It seems these days if you want a research grant all you have to do is tell the lender you are trying to protect them online.
Or so it seems, as study after study is released warning you all to use firewalls, anti-virus, anti-malware and other various software to protect yourself.
This is where I interject.
Those studies are not wrong, but I have something better, a brain (and fingers that obey this organ.)
It tells me that there is no way some 18-year-old co-ed wants this mid-30s hairy ape to do her and her friend, and that I can't win a contest in which I had no knowledge.
And trust me on this one, there are no Nigerian princes that need you to hold their fortunes.
Even if there were you can rest assured that is some seriously bloody money.
Seriously folks, are we really that stupid, or just prone flights of fancy? Either way, stop it. Just stop it. When the pop-up comes, close it from the task bar. Then run CCleaner, and scan for malware.
According to Internet Security Awareness Training firm KnowBe4 there are four top industries prone to be victims in phishing scams. I think we can rename their research to "Which industries don't hire based on common sense."
The top leaders of KnowBe4's FAIL500 are; Travel, Education, Financial Services, Government, and (yes, I know it's true from experience) IT Services.
The problem with most of these is their networks have to be accessible to the public. They can have all the internal security in the world, but the fact that they have to let you in means it has to be attached to the web. You have to be able to log in and see your vacation itinerary, or your balance. So those pesky spammers, hackers and thieves have the gate at least half open for them. It also means that the employees of these businesses can send out invitations inadvertently. Once an internal email is known it can be used to send viruses, trojans, malware, or scams. They use human nature against them. Who doesn't want the latest iOrgasm? A damn fool, that's who. Actually, it's the damn fool who thinks they're getting one for nothing.
My advice is to simply tell everyone who repeatedly falls for these scams to please kindly get the hell off of the Internet, move to Montana and buy a shack. You are ruining it for everyone. Too many people fall for blatantly patently obviously false bogus incredible stupid things that sooner or late some grandstanding politician enacts some legislature that tightens down our last bastion of anarchy. So again, please, get off the web or grow some common sense.
If I sound condescending, it is with some apology.
I love my interwebs far too much to let it be legislated anymore than it already has been.
Stop typing, take your hands off the mouse and read.
Just for a minute, and let it soak in, that you are your own worst enemy.
Take a deep breath, and ask yourself did you really just win an iPad2 without even knowing there was such a contest?
No. You are being baited. This is why it's called phishing. Don't ask me where the 'ph' came from.
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