{"id":2421,"date":"2020-05-05T16:54:02","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T15:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2020-05-05T16:55:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T15:55:18","slug":"expert-advice-protecting-against-online-fraud-and-scams-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/2020\/05\/05\/expert-advice-protecting-against-online-fraud-and-scams-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Advice: Protecting against online fraud and scams during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Jason Nurse from Kent\u2019s School of Computing provides advice on how to stay safe online as cybercriminals and fraudsters attempt to exploit uncertainty, fear and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be suspicious\u00a0of unsolicited\u00a0emails, texts or calls\u00a0asking for\u00a0personal information\u00a0(e.g., name, home address, bank details, email address or phone number) always, but especially during the pandemic.\u00a0Criminals\u00a0often\u00a0pose\u00a0as someone you\u00a0may know\u00a0(e.g., the NHS, your GP, bank, employer or friend) to\u00a0trick you\u00a0into giving them\u00a0your information; this is called\u00a0a phishing attack<\/a>.\u00a0Do not share\u00a0personal or work information\u00a0before verifying\u00a0a sender\u2019s\u00a0credentials.\u00a0Verification\u00a0can be achieved by\u00a0using phone numbers\u00a0or\u00a0emails\u00a0from official websites or\u00a0checking\u00a0previously received\u00a0official correspondence.<\/li>\n
  2. Be extremely cautious\u00a0of emails, texts or calls that\u00a0seek to panic, force or entice\u00a0you into take some\u00a0action\u00a0(e.g., clicking a link or transferring some money).\u00a0Fraudsters are aware<\/a>\u00a0that we are all\u00a0concerned\u00a0about the pandemic and its impact on our lives, and are\u00a0attempting to trick us\u00a0using this. This could involve\u00a0threatening your health\u00a0if you don\u2019t pay a fraudster, or\u00a0asking for money\u00a0under the guise of a legitimate organisation (e.g., the World Health Organisation (WHO), or the NHS).\u00a0Stay calm, listen to your\u00a0instincts\u00a0and\u00a0ignore\u00a0such emails.<\/li>\n
  3. Be careful\u00a0with what\u00a0personal information\u00a0you\u00a0share online\u00a0and\u00a0use unique,\u00a0strong passwords\u00a0across online accounts. Cybercriminals\u00a0search\u00a0for information\u00a0about you\u00a0online to\u00a0better target\u00a0their COVID-19-themed attacks. They use your\u00a0social media\u00a0and\u00a0work profiles, and\u00a0even passwords\u00a0(from previous data breaches<\/a>), to\u00a0gather information\u00a0in order to trick you into\u00a0believing\u00a0that their messages are\u00a0legitimate. Check\u00a0privacy settings\u00a0for your accounts to ensure that\u00a0you\u2019re not sharing\u00a0too much personal information. Also, it is crucial to have\u00a0unique and strong passwords\u00a0across your accounts;\u00a0a password manager<\/a>\u00a0is great for this.<\/li>\n
  4. Protect your devices\u00a0using up-to-date\u00a0software\u00a0and keep online\u00a0accounts secure\u00a0using\u00a0multi-factor authentication. Even after your\u00a0best efforts\u00a0in this stressful pandemic time,\u00a0cybercriminals may be able to trick you<\/a>\u00a0into\u00a0clicking\u00a0a\u00a0malicious link,\u00a0downloading\u00a0a harmful attachment, or could\u00a0guess your passwords\u00a0using online information. This is why it is important to keep\u00a0up-to-date software\u00a0and\u00a0anti-virus systems\u00a0that can catch and block malware before it infects your\u00a0device\u00a0(be it a computer, tablet, phone or smart technology). Also, by turning on\u00a0multi-factor authentication<\/a>\u00a0on your online accounts, you add another layer of\u00a0protection\u00a0as it means that criminals will\u00a0need to know\u00a0more than your\u00a0password\u00a0to\u00a0login\u00a0to your account.<\/li>\n
  5. If you think\u00a0you have been the\u00a0victim\u00a0of a\u00a0scam, phishing attack\u00a0or\u00a0fraud,\u00a0contact\u00a0the\u00a0related organisation(s), e.g., your bank, employer or online service provider\u00a0immediately. They may be able to\u00a0block\u00a0the attack, or put\u00a0measures in place\u00a0to\u00a0mitigate\u00a0and\u00a0recover\u00a0from it without\u00a0too much harm<\/a>\u00a0to yourself or to their systems. To support\u00a0detection and reporting\u00a0of suspicious emails, the UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has launched\u00a0a new \u2018Suspicious Email Reporting Service\u2019<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0make it easier\u00a0for us all to report\u00a0suspicious emails, including those related to coronavirus. Official services like these and those from\u00a0Action Fraud<\/a>\u00a0can be used to quickly report\u00a0concerning messages, therefore\u00a0protecting\u00a0yourself and others. There are also services such as\u00a0Victim Support<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0You & Co<\/a>\u00a0that are tailored to providing support to\u00a0victims of crime.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Dr Jason Nurse<\/a>\u2019s research focuses on the interaction between users and aspects of cyber security, privacy and trust. He is a member of Kent\u2019s\u00a0Cyber Security Research Group<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    This blog was repurposed from Kent’s Expert Tips<\/a> are\u00a0a series of advice-led articles delivered by University of Kent academics. Advice is given based on academics\u2019 specialist areas of research to inform, support and educate readers. Colleagues who would like to learn more about how to contribute their expertise should contact the Press Office on 3985 or\u00a0<\/strong>pressoffice@kent.ac.uk<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dr Jason Nurse from Kent\u2019s School of Computing provides advice on how to stay safe online as cybercriminals and fraudsters attempt to exploit uncertainty, fear … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5321,"featured_media":1798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124,57908],"tags":[167396,37339,178050],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2421"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2424,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions\/2424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/unikentcomp-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}