Cybersecurity attacks come in all sorts of ways and from all directions, so perhaps we should not be surprised at one of the latest trends in thieves trying to steal your organization’s data — “vishing” attacks, where they use the plain old telephone.

Social media platforms are excellent hunting grounds for scammers. This is where we connect with our friends or people who we have something in common with. This is precisely what scammers exploit—our connections and the trust that is afforded between friends or acquaintances. From an early age, we are taught to be kind and compassionate as well as to help others, especially people we know such as friends and family. In turn, they will help us if we ever need it.

Imagine, it’s a Saturday morning and you receive a call from a bank: – Hello? – Hi [insert your name], we suspect that a fraudster is trying to use your card at a grocery store in Texas. – Well, I am at a grocery store in Texas! – Oh my gosh! Do you see him? If only credit card fraud was funny.

Scammers target businesses with phishing emails all the time, pretending to be legitimate customers or vendors asking for payment. While any company can be vulnerable to this type of attack, small- to medium-size companies are particularly vulnerable because it is easier for a scammer to do a bit of research online and identify the right people to impersonate or send a phishing email to.

Fraudulent phone calls have been an issue for years, and they’re becoming more common. According to a recent report from Truecaller, 59.49 million Americans lost money to scam calls in the past year, costing $29.8 billion. These threats have risen in both number and cost, and businesses can’t afford to ignore this trend. Small and medium-sized businesses are popular targets for fraud, as they often have less security.

Cryptocurrencies, once the exclusive domain of an idealistic fringe movement, have recently become attractive to mainstream retail investors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the valuation of cryptocurrencies rose exponentially, reaching a market capitalization of over $2 trillion. Cybercriminals are always looking for the path of least resistance to make money and cryptocurrencies are now in their crosshairs.

You just started reading this blog post. But are you reading it alone? Or is there a “man in the middle” watching and recording everything you do online? While it may sound like a plot from a Hollywood blockbuster, the reality is far from amusing. A man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack can quickly occur when an unsuspecting victim joins the same public Wi-Fi network as a malicious attacker, for example, at a cafe.

Scammers are increasingly resourceful when coming up with scam techniques. But they often rely on long-standing persuasion techniques for the scam to work. So, you may hear about a new scam that uses a novel narrative, but there is a good chance that the scam relies on proven scam techniques once the narrative is stripped away. These scam techniques often exploit our characteristics and heuristics, or things that make us human and fallible.

Biometric technology, such as fingerprint sensors and voice recognition, has become widely popular in recent years with the boom in mobile applications. Organizations are now trying to make use of this technology and implement it to a wide range of areas. Particularly for the banking industry, biometrics can play a vital role in fraud prevention. With the prevalence of phone and digital banking, banks require innovative ways to authenticate their customer’s identity.

In our recent webinar featuring Netacea’s Head of eCommerce, Tom Platt, we explored the rising threat of loyalty point fraud and how businesses can reap the benefits of loyalty schemes while staying protected from attacks and retaining customer loyalty. Watch the full webinar on demand or catch up on the takeaways here.