Seven Deadly Sins of Cybersecurity

 

Seven Human Weaknesses That Cyber Criminals Exploit

Sex Appeal

Scammers lure victims by masquerading as hotties on social networks; be dubious of flirtatious strangers.

Greed

Free iPads? Millions of bucks from a Nigerian wire transfer? If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Vanity

We all want to be popular and successful, but no matter how special we are, we’re not winning contests we didn’t enter.

Trust

A spammer sent out fake iTunes receipts. Others pretend to be friends of friends. Be wary of name-dropping to earn trust.

Sloth

Lazy users get burned. Check out that email purportedly from Bank of America before sharing info; ditto request from social nets.

Compassion

Requests for money to help a stranded friend, or for nonprofits when disaster strikes, are often scams.

Urgency

“Act now!” No, think first. If you miss a legitimately awesome offer, too bad.