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Cybersecurity Awareness Tip 17: Don't Take the Click Bait
Cybersecurity Awareness Tip 17: Don't Take the Click Bait
All the Time, On Every Channel
Spammers, phishers, hackers and surveillance organizations (governments and companies) don't care how they reach you - only that you take the clickbait. They'll put clickbait in email, text, social media, comments on online posts or news stories, instant messengers, chat rooms, TV or on paper in snail mail, newspaper or magazine ads. Some even look like stories from the site you're visiting, often mixed with real stories from the site you're visiting.
Stop It Before It Starts
You can stop many malicious communication attempts before they start by using:
Even the best malicious communication blockers won't catch everything, and they can't stop you from visiting sites that might have malicious links in comments or articles. And there aren't any good tools for blocking malicious text or instant messenger communications. So think before you click. Think, and check:
Check the URL, especially if the URL doesn't match the website you think you're going to visit - use a link checker to see the final destination and a website reputation checker to determine if it's safe
Use a URL expander to see the end final destination of shortened URLs (e.g. goo.gl, bit.ly, etc.)
Remove tracking parameters from links. The ability to remove tracker parameters from links is built into Brave, you can also add browser plugins to do this. Some email clients (e.g. FairEmail) can also prompt you to remove tracking parameters.
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