Beware of popular trends and current events

Criminals, scammers and hackers will use current events, popular trends, etc. as a way to lure unsuspecting victims to malicious websites, trick them into installing malware, or to steal their money.

Beware of trends and current events as attackers will use this to their advantage.  Attackers will set up malicious sites, create malicious apps, or send emails with malicious links or attachments to infect people.  The best advice is to stick to well known websites and companies when keeping up-to-date with information on topics like a recent natural disaster,  social unrest, sporting events (March Madness or the Super Bowl), a hot trend, popular actor or actress, or even a video game craze (i.e. Pokemon Go).  Attackers will use our natural curiosity against us.  For example, people will flock to the internet to search for an instant star (a previously unknown actress or actor that has become popular due to a recent movie).  Attackers will create news stories or websites based on that new star in hopes people will flock to their website to see pictures, read stories etc.  The attackers will infect that website with malware, which will then infect your machine if you stumble on to it.  So, use extreme caution when reacting to recent trends and I would always recommend sticking to well-know, reputable websites.

Here are a few more recommendations and warnings:

• If you receive an unsolicited email from a suspicious sender referencing donations for a recent natural disaster, it is best to assume it could be malicious or a scam.  If you want to donate, search for a well-known charity and donate through them.  Avoid the unknown organization.
• If you see a headline for a story that seems "too good to be true", especially if it isn't linked to a well-known website, don't click the link.  Instead, search for the information online and see if you can find the story linked to a reputable site.
• Please keep in mind, attackers can be tricky by making a malicious website or email address appear to be a legitimate website.  I will create a blog posting describing URLs in detail, but for now here are a couple quick tips.  Pay attention to the name just before the last 3 letters.  So, espn[.]com is ESPN.  However, espn[.]badwebsite[.]com is not ESPN.  The actual website is badwebsite[.]com.  An attacker has used espn in the first part of the URL to trick you into thinking it was ESPN. On the same note, attackers will combine letters to make them appear like a different letter.  They may use rn instead of m.  A quick glance and R & N (rn) looks like an M (m).  If the verbiage of the email or website made it seem like the word contained an m, we would quickly read rn to be an m.
• One last recommendation is to use extreme caution when searching for game cheats, music lyrics, screen savers or wall paper.  If you or your children search for this type of information, be very careful and only navigate to well-known, reputable websites and use extreme caution when downloading software related to these search terms.

Another post I have that goes into these dangers in more detail can be found here.