Cyber attacks come in all shapes and sizes. It can be as simple as an email that looks like it comes from your bank and includes an urgent link for you to click or a more obvious scam asking you to send money upfront to receive an unclaimed inheritance. It is important to take a closer look regardless. If you hover your mouse over the link you’ll see that the web address looks fake, contains gibberish, or has names in it that aren’t associated with your bank or the pretend sender. Sometimes it is easy to discern a fake with obvious typos in the email or broken English. This interesting topic came to us from Information Security Buzz in their article, “Prevention Is Better Than Cure – Are You Cyber Secure?”
There are two types of cyber attacks – syntactic and semantic. Syntactic cyber attacks allow malicious software to attack your computer. Think viruses, worms, and trojan horses.
Semantic cyber attacks are about changing the perception or behavior of the person or organization that’s under attack. These are typically phishing attacks designed to collect your information or ransomware attacks that seek to take over your computer system or network.
Awareness is key to preventing an attack and protecting your data and resources. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or say no.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in taxonomies, metadata, and semantic enrichment to make your content findable.
