Hackers and cyber criminals are trying to bait you. They want to fool you, hook you, and then reel in your private information. This is phishing - an increasingly common attack that attempts to gain someone's private information and/or credentials through realistic, but ultimately fake, emails.
How bad is phishing? According to a 2017 report by PhishMe, Inc, the average cost of a phishing attack on a mid-sized company is $1.6 million. That same report also found phishing attacks had grown by 65% in a year. The 2019 State of the Phish Report by Wombat found that 76% of businesses were the victims of phishing attacks in the previous year. Schools are also popular targets. Just recently, hackers stole personal information of over 500,000 staff and students in a San Diego school district through a phishing attack. The first line of defense to prevent these attacks is the user.
People must have training to identify phishing attempts and disregard them. Jigsaw, a special part of Google that researches and develops solutions to technology issues, released a quiz on phishing to help people spot these potential attacks. I got seven out of the eight scenarios correct. I'm still kicking myself about the one I missed, which I thought was a phishing attempt, but it turned out to be safe. Take the quiz here and see how many of the phishing attempts you can identify.
One final resource that can help both teachers and students become safer and more savvy online is Google's Digital Citizenship and Safety course. This self-paced, online course trains teachers on incorporating digital citizenship and safety lessons in their classrooms, but it also provides many helpful tips on digital security that are relevant outside of the classroom.
Hopefully, these resources can help you to not take the bait.
