Blake Dowling
The recent work by our elected officials has been a positive step in the war on fraud and hacking. The theft and manipulation of gift cards is rampant. Eventually, retailers will lock them up like cold medicine, but until they reach that conclusion on their own, this Florida law helps fight hackers and con artists.
While theft, manipulation, and illegal behavior involving gift cards is a wide playbook, the one we see in cyberspace most often is the classic “Boss Phishing.” This con goes down like this. A hacker examines a company online through its website or social media platforms. They look at the departments and see who the boss is, and then pick someone on the staff to email, pretending to be their boss.
They may choose a new intern, such as from accounting, and then they throw out the bait via email. It says some variation of this: “Hi Bob, it’s Tom, I need you to go buy gift cards for the staff, it’s a surprise, don’t tell anyone, text me at this number ******** and let me know when you have them, thx.”
To make sure you don’t fall for this type of hack, look closely at who an email is from. Hover over the email address with the cursor to see the original email address. Nine out of 10 times, it’s a Gmail account, not your boss’s.
In a few instances, a hacker might register a fake domain that resembles the organization they are targeting. For example, if the real domain is [email protected], they might register the domain [email protected] or something similar to try and fool you into thinking it is the same thing.
Double-check and verify all digital requests, especially those that ask for money or your passwords. Don’t fall for it, and don’t click a link before verifying it yourself. Hover your mouse over the link to see where it will take you.
This is only a small part of the threat landscape, but it’s essential to know what to look for, as people continue to fall for these scams.
Moving on to even more brutal types of cybercrime. What happens when hackers set their targets on kids? This can lead to identity theft, families getting hacked by kids’ online behavior, and even predators knocking on the digital door. It’s a lot to take in, but we must all work together to not only stop hacking but also keep kids safe.
First, look for the red flags. If your child hides their screen on laptops, computers, or a phone, it may be more than just chatting with a friend; they are trying to conceal something. This could be a sign of a problem. Predators and hackers attempt to initiate conversations to arrange meetings, obtain photographs, passwords, and financial information. Make sure you talk to your child about this. If mysterious packages show up at your house for your child, open them, demand answers, and don’t hesitate to take the device away.
Engage parental controls on every app and device, look at internet browsing history, deploy Life 360 for tracking or use a tool like Bark. I spoke about Bark on WCTV here in Tallahassee this week as we dove into the Grow Up Safe Series with Ava Van Valen. Bark allows parents to block specific websites, monitor email and text messages, and review app usage.
Given today’s extreme threat landscape, I would recommend incorporating measures like these, as well as family cybersecurity tools and predator awareness training.
Video games are also a concern. Don’t forget that many video game platforms have an online world where children interact with other players. Predators invade these platforms looking for victims and there are some worst-case scenarios out there already. Talk to your children about what to look for: a person they meet in a video game asking them to share pictures or harm themselves is beyond a red flag and worth your time investigating as a family.
You can hear more information on that front for yourself here.
If you are wondering where to obtain such training, you are not alone. The business community offers seminars and classes on cybersecurity constantly. But what about families, children and the elderly? Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor, currently in Tallahassee, is working on a solution to fill that void. It’s called the Leon County Digital Literacy Program, and it will cover topics such as AI, cybersecurity, and protecting our community from predators.
“Generative AI and other technologies have extraordinary potential for our local communities, but we should also help residents learn how to use these tools safely and effectively. When we improve a community’s digital literacy and AI resilience, we maximize the societal benefits and minimize the costs.”
Cybersecurity and fighting online predators are everyone’s job. Talk to your family members of all ages. Ensure they know not to hand over passwords and money and more importantly, do not engage with strangers on the phone, via apps, in video games, via email or text. One of my colleagues’ grandmothers got a call from a person pretending to be a police officer in the Bahamas. He told her he had her grandson was in jail and needed money wired to him for bail. She called the grandson to confirm, and a hack was stopped as he was not in jail. Caller IDs can be spoofed; make sure people are aware of this.
From the Governor’s Office and all our elected officials, to the private sector, to the media and the family living room, we must all fight this war together if we hope to win it one day.
Winning is the only acceptable outcome, as our safety and security are at stake.
