{"id":4645,"date":"2024-03-04T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mintivo.co.uk\/?p=4645"},"modified":"2024-02-28T14:56:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T14:56:33","slug":"what-is-baiting-in-cyber-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mintivo.co.uk\/news\/what-is-baiting-in-cyber-security\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Baiting in Cyber Security?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Have you ever received a suspicious email? The kind of email that might say you\u2019ve won some money, or maybe even an email from a \u201cfamily member\u201d or \u201cfriend\u201d telling you to buy an amazing product, by simply opening the attached file or clicking on the link they helpfully provide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are examples of baiting, a tactic used to trick people into giving their personal data or information (such as bank details) to malicious, unsafe sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some baiting tactics are very easy to see, however, there are some that are very clever and if you aren\u2019t careful, you could be caught out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social engineering is the process baiting attackers use to hack into your company\u2019s software, breaching its data and computer systems. These are the three steps they take to get your information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baiting, as the name suggests, is designed to lure their victims in with something that will appeal to them, or catch their interest to the point of pursuing the bait to find out more. A bit like bait on the end of a fishing rod, it looks tasty but isn\u2019t good for the fish! There are a few common baiting attacks you should watch out for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bait attacker will leave a malware-infected USB for people to find. This is in the hope that they will plug it in, perhaps to try and find the owner or to see what\u2019s on it. Whatever their motivation may be, if the malware-infected USB is plugged into a computer, the infectious malware can spread silently through the computer system, damaging it and accessing information to target people in their contacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This may be the most commonly known baiting attack. Attackers may take on different identities such as a family member, friend, co-worker or even a technical support assistant, to gain your trust. The phisher can find your contacts once they have hacked into your email account. Examples of baiting in these areas have included a scammer pretending to be a child, reaching out to a parent asking for money to help them get back home; a contact sending a link and telling you to click it for a reward or a co-worker asking you to phone them on the attached phone number in a work email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this baiting attack, the attacker contacts their victim asking for something and offering something to them in return. A common example of this is the bait attacker pretending to be a member of IT support, calling around a company until they can find someone with a problem who needs fixing. When they find their victim, they then give them instructions that put malware into the victim\u2019s computer, compromising it and making its private information available for the attacker to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So much of our lives are online, which means you may have encountered this kind of scam before. However, you may still be uncertain of how to deal with it safely and effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n