Cyber Crime advice – European Cyber Crime Month

Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau was in studio to discuss European Cyber Security Month (ECSM).

The theme this year is “Secure our World”, with a focus on so many people working from home and the potential cyber risks to both personal and company data.

Online frauds or loss of personal and company data can have serious financial and reputational implications for the victim. Our figures suggest that cybercrimes are on the increase, up around 25% last year. So we really want to remind people of the dangers and how to prevent falling victim to cyber criminals.  

We know that businesses as well as individuals can be victims of cyber-attacks. But if we look at the individual side of things, the tactics used by cyber criminals are evolving all the time.

The older tactics like phishing and ransomware attacks are very much still with us. In many cases these use personal information we have put online ourselves on our social media or our website presences.

Other scams are very inventive such as the fake QR Code scam that got a lot of attention in the past week. This involved a fake QR code being placed on parking meters in various locations over a genuine one so that when someone scans it to try to pay for parking, they inadvertently give the criminals their bank card details and can potentially lose a large sum of money. QR Codes are everywhere so before you use one, check that its part of the notice and not just stuck on. Check where the code link leads you to before processing the payment. If you’re not sure, use an alternative method of payment. Or use the official App to pay for goods or parking rather than relying on a QR link that may have been tampered with.  

When it comes to this current QR code scam, we are investigating and I would encourage any victims to report it to their local Garda Station so it can be fully investigated.   

In addition, we are all familiar with text message and emails containing links that at first glance may appear genuine.  Despite all the publicity around not clicking on links and verifying the sender of emails before responding we are still seeing a large number of victims of this type of cybercrime. The cyber criminals only need a few people to respond to make a profit. 

To those of us who are hybrid working, while many companies are reminding us about the risks - the first protection is for the individual to adopt the same diligence they would when in the office.

With our hybrid working environment we can easily be distracted, we take chances we wouldn’t take in the office and we often don’t just stop before we click. But as soon as you’ve clicked the link or input any details, you’re in the net of the criminals. Getting caught up in a cybercrime can have consequences for the victim at home or at work. Apart from the financial costs, cybercrime can damage our personal reputation as an employee. It can also affect how confident we are about going on the Internet and who we trust online.

It's not only texts, but email can be designed to trick us as well. At first glance an email may appear to be from a colleague requesting that you carry out a particular task, but when you double check the actual email it is then you can clearly see it’s a fake.  

Our advice here is to first remember that every online action has an impact whether it’s sharing personal content, accepting unsolicited friend requests, making comments online or clicking on a link in an email. Being online is virtual and you need to be extra vigilant as you can’t always see the risks behind the screen. Not everything is as it seems online so you should always verify the source or the sender before responding. Ask yourself what is the message or email asking you to do? And can you independently verify it? Once you’re satisfied that it is a scam, block the number or the profile and delete the message.  

Further information on the (ECSM) campaign 2024 can be found on the Garda social media accounts, as well as in a comprehensive booklet called “Cybercrime Risks & Prevention Tips”, which can be downloaded from the Garda website. Here you will find information on all types of cybercrime, the harm that cybercrime can cause and how to prevent it. So I would urge viewers to check that out.  

www.garda.ie/cybercrime for more information.

www.garda.ie/cybercrime  

Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau