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Information Security Tips Series |
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It has become very common to use website or mobile apps to share personal interest and messages. Various social media portals provide multiple ways for users to interact with each other, such as chatting, emailing, file sharing, and blogging. In the meanwhile, can users be assured of the authenticity of information? Otherwise, they would fall into the trap of the social networking hoaxes. Hoax usually spreads the message or belief of a fictitious or false nature, indicating that the recipient should forward the message to others. If you do not obey this instruction, there would be a threat or serious consequences. In the more serious case, the hoax requires the recipient to provide personal data or financial information, finally leading to losses. Traditionally, hoax appears in the form of a chain email. However, it has spread to chat rooms and social networking websites. The following are some of the more common examples of the hoax. Case 1: A hoax on Facebook: Free ABC Coffee Shop $50 Gift Card! Owing to the huge number of worldwide users, Facebook has become a primary target of hackers recently, and its platform is widely attacked by hoaxes as well. In the ABC Coffee Shop hoax, Facebook users were asked to click on a link that redirected them to a malicious page. Then the victims were instructed to post the scam message on their own profiles and click the "like" button. After providing their names, addresses, etc., the victims would receive an ABC Coffee Shop gift card. In fact, the cards were never dispatched to the victims. Hackers would use personal information to obtain further spam Facebook accounts and harass victims through email or SMS messages. Case 2: SMS hoax: Message delivery charge for ABC mobile app. In addition to spreading through network, a hoax could also be sent through an SMS message. An example is the message delivery charge for the popular ABC mobile app. The SMS message appeared to be a notification from a telephone company. It made people believe that by using the ABC mobile app, the user would have to pay extra fee for each message, and their privacy would be compromised. As a result, thousands of people removed the app within a few days without verifying the SMS message from the official source. Consider the followings to find out if a message is a hoax
* Have the same header and the body
of the message been forwarded many times?* Are there any unreadable characters appearing in the message? * Have the proposed business plans requested for personal or financial information? * Have you ever participated in any activity of the message sender, especially those informing you to get a reward? The ways to avoid a hoax
* protect the privacy of your personal data, and avoid disclosing your personal information to strangers. * If the message mentions information about any organisation, verify it from the official source. * Remain cautious when opening messages from unknown sources. * All files and email attachments should be scanned by anti-virus software with the latest signature before opening |
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