:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/J7WECQXQJVHXBB3ZVGDYS5U2CY.jpg "Five Common Ways Cybercriminals Hack and Steal Data 1")
The bone cybercriminals attempt to violate the security features of devices such as cell phones and computers by various methods to manage to steal the personal information and sensitive user data such as passwords, bank accounts, intimate photographs, among others. The ultimate goal is to use this data for economic purposes.
The tactics used by these digital criminals are not just about attacking security systems directly and bypassing them by force. Instead, they use methods to trick users into giving up this data of their own free will.
These methods may involve different programs and include basic personal information about some of their victims in order to make these pranks more effective.
You may be interested: Five cybercrime practices that can grow with artificial intelligence
Messages are a common method used by cyber criminals to obtain information from users. According to the report Fraud Beat 2022 security company Appgatehe Phishing (fake emails that steal the identity of a trusted company) is the most common modality and represents the 80% incidents reported to authorities.
On the other hand, the Smishing (scams using messages SMS) is also a way to scam users. Either way, you can include a short link that directs people to fake web pages which contain forms that users fill out with their personal information because they are convinced that the strategy is real.
This method is not as popular as the others in terms of applicationbut that is because it is usually accompanied by other forms of cyberattacks which sometimes include connections to false pages, e-mails and even to the personal data of the users to whom it is addressed.
You may be interested: This tool identifies if an email is dangerous or contains false information
It mainly consists of making calls to potential users victims posing as customer service centers of well-known companies to offer technical support, benefits, among other services that cannot be contracted by users in order to validate data that will later be used to steal network accounts social or credit card passwords.
More than a strategy in itself, it is a common characteristic of the attempts of cybercriminals mislead users. Whether through a phishing, smishing, vishing campaign or any other means of contacting users, they are presented with exaggerated and “limited time” offers and benefits to shock users in such a way that ‘they don’t have time to wonder if the offer is real. or not.
On some occasions, this type of contact is used to obtain users’ banking information through promises of offers such as “three months of free service for a dollar” or other offers. In the case of adware (a virus that spreads invasive advertising and generates profits for criminals), these offers include the “need” for users to “share the message for the benefit of family or friends”, but only seek to reproduce THE virus to more devices.
You may be interested: How users expose their Wi-Fi network to cybercriminals
Although the app stores have security systems Advanced to prevent cybercriminals from using their platform to spread virus-containing or misused programs, the criminals manage to trick the system using methods like slow downloading malware and disguising it as system update.
Malicious apps often ask for permissions to access certain data on the phone even when they don’t need it to work. For example, if you download a flashlight app and it requests access to your SMSgallery, link to social networks and contacts, it is highly likely to be a rogue application because none of these cell phone functions are required to use this application.
In these cases, careful observation of this type of behavior in Apps it can be useful to identify them and remove them from the device as soon as possible because they will steal more data while they have more time to collect it.
This method is commonly used in dating applications and consists of “love bombing” or emitting love phrases or romantic behavior on these platforms with the aim of making users believe that they have found the ideal partner.
In these cases, the cybercriminals impersonate someone and convince their “match” to leave the conversation in the application and switch to more private options like WhatsApp oh Telegramwhere they can make direct references to scams with cryptocurrencies, fraudulent investment options, among other terms that are moderated by the dating apps to avoid these cases of scams.