The Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA) guided users on new trends in cybercrime modalities and offered some recommendations, in order to safeguard the integrity of their transactions during the shopping season of Black Friday, CyberMonday and Christmas.
The ABA highlighted that the most frequent attacks are carried out through social engineering, such as phishingwhich uses fake emails or websites to trick users into obtaining confidential information that can then be used in other types of fraud.
He explained that identity theft, where one pretends to be a trusted source or recognized by the user, and the malwaremalicious software designed to damage the computer or cell phone in order to steal data or cause further damage, are other forms of cyberattack.
“Personal information is extremely valuable and you should avoid sharing it on untrustworthy websites or applications. Banks will never request confidential information through social networks, email or other types of digital messaging”, a recommendation that the Cybersecurity Committee assures must be taken into account not only at the time, but permanently.
New types of cybercrimes
The ABA detailed that, as technologies advance, new ways appear in which cybercriminals try to achieve their unhealthy purposes.
“Although, in essence, the same trend of being able to obtain customer credentials remains, what has changed is the way of obtaining them. With the use of artificial intelligence resources to clone the voice or to generate videos of people from images, fraudsters have sophisticated the way they deceive,” warned the Cybersecurity Committee of the banking union.
He gave as an example a video with the (fake) image of someone famous recommending investing in a very profitable business, which requires a small investment and providing your confidential data in order to carry out the supposed transaction.
Meanwhile, the smishinga term that combines “SMS” and “phishing,” is another form of cyber attack that uses text messages (SMS) to trick people into obtaining sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers or banking information, the ABA added. .
“In an attack of this guycriminals send messages that appear to come from trusted sources, such as banks or well-known companies. They usually create a sense of urgency, asking the recipient to click on a link or provide personal information to avoid negative consequences,” he explained.
He indicated that another new modality, such as quishing, It does not use links but rather seeks to take people to apocryphal websites simply by scanning a QR code.
Recommendations for safe browsing on the internet
The Association of Banks shared some useful recommendations for financial users, as well as for the general public who use cyberspace, including:
Do not share personal or financial information through unsolicited emails or messages.
Be wary of extremely good offers, Well, they have a high probability of being a scam.
Be attentive if asked to pay with gift cardsbank transfers or cryptocurrencies.
Verify that websites have a physical address and a contact telephone number.
take a moment, Because scammers often seek action quickly and without thinking.
Observe the errors grammatical and spelling problems that fake sites often contain.
Check to see if there are no reviews or if there are many negative ones.which may be indicative of an untrustworthy site.
Slow loading speed or unusual site behavior, such as redirecting to multiple pages, could mean it is compromised or dangerous.
Check that, in the address bar, the site begins with “https” (the “s” indicates a secure connection).
Regularly review account statements and credit cards to detect any suspicious activity and report it to the banking entity.
Update antivirus and security software to protect against malware and other threats.
Finally, the ABA invited to expand these and other recommendations on the portal www.yonavegoseguro.com.doan initiative of the entity that offers guidance on cybersecurity, both for personal, business or institutional use.
