This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube news/interview segment titled "Beware of the hackers 12 Scams of the Holidays!" (posted April 6, 2015). Host Amity Atrease interviews security expert Robert Siciliano about holiday-related cyber scams — data breaches, phishing emails, spoofed sites, and malware — and he gives practical advice (don’t click email links, monitor credit card statements, enable transaction alerts, use antivirus/anti-spyware/firewall, and try McAfee SiteAdvisor or McAfee.com for the "12 scams of the holidays").
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Welcome back, it's 7:23 and I'm Amity Atrease. And it's the holidays, 'tis the season to get scammed. Oh, that's right, as you're trying to fill your heart with the holiday spirit, bad guys are trying to drain your wallet. Security expert Robert Siciliano is joining us now. Robert, how do we protect ourselves from these cyber Scrooges?
Yeah, the key is to be aware. You know, the more aware you are that this is going on, the better position you're going to be in to deflect anybody trying to scam you. So this year is the year of the breach, and that means that, you know, many retailers have had millions and millions of our bits of data, you know, compromised— credit card numbers, email addresses. So McAfee wants you to be aware that you are probably going to be receiving phishing emails. These are scammy emails that look like they're coming from legitimate entities but are in fact fake, designed to lure you to enter your credentials. You might get a link in the body of that email. You click that link and you download malware. That malware is spyware. Spyware spies on what you do, the websites you visit, the usernames and passwords you type in. So don't click those links. And if you end up clicking a link and you end up on a spoofed website, right, this is a website that looks like that e-tailer but is in fact designed to get you to enter your credentials and your credit card information. So really, you want to make sure that you're paying very close attention to your credit card statements this year, especially with all these breaches, and look for any unauthorized activity. You can do it monthly via paper statements, you can do it weekly online, or you You can get your bank or credit card company's mobile application so you can check your statements like you're checking your Facebook statuses. Yeah. And what I've also done is gone online to my bank and credit card company's website and I got notifications and alerts sent to my mobile so that every single time there's a charge made, I can see it via a text or an email to my mobile phone.
Yeah, that's great advice, Robert. Now let me get this straight. Am I correct in assuming, so all these hacks have happened. They've gotten, we've been told they're not getting great data, they're getting maybe email addresses and nothing, you know, compromising. But with those email addresses, now they're coming to you with these sort of scams. Is this correct?
Yeah, so it's really easy. If, like, for example, I get emails from Target and Home Depot all the time, right? Right. And it's really easy for a bad guy to get the exact same email and then just basically copy the contents of that email. And then with all of these emails that they've stolen as a result of these data breaches, they send out millions and millions of emails that look like they come exactly from Home Depot and Target.
Right?
So, you know, they just take the exact same email and send it out to millions of people, and within the body of those emails are links. You click those links, it infects your devices. So I don't click links in the body of emails anymore. It's just too risky, it's too dangerous. But as long as you have, like, antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, and a firewall, you generally will be in pretty good shape. McAfee also has a program called Site Advisor. So Site Advisor is a free program you download and install in your browser, and basically when you visit particular websites, it tells you via green, yellow, or red if it's good or bad.
Right, I've seen that before. Alright, we've only got about 30 seconds left, but can you tell me quickly some of the 12 scams of Christmas?
So make sure that you're aware of all the different charity scams, all the different email scams, all the different gift card scams. And if you want to learn more about this stuff, just go online to McAfee.com, and there you can learn about the 12 scams of the holidays and how to protect yourself and your family.
Alright, thanks so much, Robert Siciliano, for being here this morning and keeping us protected.
