Are you safe from cyberattacks?

Phishing is a specific type of social engineering by which criminals use phony communications to “fish” for information by email or over the internet. Typically, they pretend to be banks or software companies and ask for your passwords. Modern phishing no longer requires email, but instead uses infected websites or even interferes directly in communications between companies and customers to fish for information. Criminals then use the identity of the victim to steal money.

The purpose of ransomware is literally to extract a ransom. For example, a corporate network may be infiltrated by a program that encrypts all the company's data, which is only made readable again – if they are lucky – once the ransom is paid. “Blackmail Trojans” is another name for ransomware because the malicious program is smuggled into the company’s or individual’s computer system like a Trojan horse and then spreads throughout the network.

A Denial of Service happens when an internet service is not available. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but can also be deliberately caused by hackers to harm a company. One popular method is to hack thousands of private computers or networked household appliances and turn them into “sleepers.” The hacked devices are infected with malware and are activated at a specific time, which causes the devices to access the victim's website simultaneously. This overloads the victim’s system, causing it to collapse with the message: “Distributed Denial of Service.” This method is commonly used as form of protest, though criminals are also now selling such activities in order to harm competitors. Another variant is to threaten denial of service attacks in order to extort money.

Social engineering – we might also say “social manipulation” – denotes behavior aimed at persuading someone to divulge confidential information. Social engineering also happens over the phone. The caller will have spied out their victim beforehand. They then weave in snippets of information throughout the call to build up trust and to make themselves appear more credible. For example, to gain access to passwords or credit card details, a criminal may pretend to be a government representative, a colleague or a computer specialist. Their goal is either to gain access to corporate networks or to steal money.