Don’t Let the Grinch Steal Your Online Identity

Cybercriminals use a variety of tactics to steal users’ online account information. The most common tool in their arsenal is to abscond with users’ account passwords. With this information, criminals can steal bank and other financial information, logins to shopping and credit card sites, and impersonate a user on social media to pressure others to provide money or other information to criminals.

Here are some underhanded methods that a cybercriminal (aka “Grinch!”) may use to steal password info:

• Social engineering attacks: The criminal will pretend to be someone you know or trust, then trick into doing something harmful, such as providing account information via an illegitimate bank link.
• Malware: Malicious software can be installed by a criminal on your device, which can allow them to do bad acts such as log your keystrokes in order to record password information.

To thwart such acts, be sure to use long/unique passwords and enable multifactor authentication, whenever possible. For more information, see the button below.

These tips are courtesy of the ACBA Legal Technology and e-Discovery Committee, and December 2024 edition of the OUCH! Newsletter (a free monthly security awareness newsletter published by the SANS Institute).