Social media and technology in general has evolved over the years and, for the most part, the COVID 19 pandemic has been a factor in what cybercriminals do: social manipulation. These attacks can be carried out through Instagram stories, tweets, Facebook posts, instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, phone calls and SMS, emails, and more.
Cybercrimes have multiplied through every access channel in this digital age. Which implies that we as users must be constantly alert to every message we receive, even when we believe we are safe from any risk. To put in context, an example of how social engineering currently works is reflected in two scenarios: COVID 19 and the declared war between Russia and Ukraine.
(Also read How does social engineering affect a company or organization?)
People's curiosity makes cybercriminals study and analyze every behavior in people. What are they looking for? what do they buy? What do they consume? Initially, when the COVID 19 pandemic began, ignorance of the topic led many people to create fake news through different social networks, which these cybercriminals took advantage of to create false advertising campaigns and people fell into these traps. On the other hand, a clear example of how people fell into cyber scams due to the war between Ukraine and Russia was not only out of curiosity but also because of the human aspect since campaigns were created through each social network where they collected money for refugees. and this ended up being a scam out of simple curiosity of how they could help others.
This comes from years ago, part of the technological advance and the ease of access that users have on the Internet generates misinformation that can fall into the hands of people with bad intentions. That is why it is recommended that all information that reaches us, whether due to something that is happening in the world, in our companies and other environments, we take the time to verify if it is a reliable source, if it is actually an email or a page. official and above all do not share immediately without really confirming whether what we receive will lead us to fall into the hands of a cybercriminal.
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