Police in Cyprus are warning over an alarming rise in reported cases of phishing which is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data.
This is what head of the Office for Combating Cybercrime Andreas Anastasiades told Philenews on Tuesday.
Phishing includes login credentials and credit card numbers and occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.
The recipient is then tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of the system as part of a ransomware attack or the revealing of sensitive information.
“In recent days, three banks in Cyprus have been flooded with complaints from customers who receive e-mails, allegedly from their bank, informing them that their account has been temporarily blocked,” Anastasiades also said.
“In fact, in order to become more convincing the cybercrime offenders say the specific bank has improved security measures for online transactions and requires mandatory confirmation on their part,” he added.
The funny thing is that they send messages of this kind to people who do not have accounts in such a bank.
