introduction to cyber security

Introduction to Cyber Security

 The internet is an incredibly valuable tool for almost
everyone, connecting us online on a 24/7 basis. You may
use a laptop to shop online your phone to upload photos
to Facebook, a computer to enter financial information at
work or on tablet to send and receive emails from
customers, patients or friends.
But are you aware of the risks that come with these digital
interactions?
 Our constant connectivity, at work and at home presents
many new data security risks. You may be unaware of
them, but these risks are becoming increasingly common.
 As an employee it's essential that you understand how to
protect yourself. your company and your customers when
working online. Throughout this course, you learn about
common online security threats.
Introduction
The majority of us use the internet on a near-daily
basis. According to the Office for National Statistics,
91% of adults in the UK were recent internet users in
2019.

The topics covered in this
section are:
What is information security?
What is cyber security?
Why is cyber security important?
Who is at risk?
Employee responsibilities
Cyber security survey

You may have heard the phrases ‘information security’ and ‘cyber
security’ being used interchangeably. Both refer to the processes
that are put in place to ensure information in kept confidential and
available only to those with authorised access.
Information can include personal records as well as businesses data.
It may be stored and accessed using computers or in written records
but it must be kept safe wherever it is located.
Information security can be divided into two categories:
 The protection of the physical environment through physical
measures and
 The protection of the electronic data from being accessed
without authorisation.
This second category is what is referred to as cyber security.
Information security is the protection of information
from unauthorised access, use, disclosure or
destruction through various means. This includes, but
is not exclusive to, electronic data.
What is Information Security?

What is Information
Security?
The acronym stands for:
 Confidentiality: The information can only be
read by those who are authorised and have
been granted access.
 Integrity: The information can only be altered
by those people or processes that have been
authorised.
 Availability: The Information can be accessed
and used when necessary (by those with
authorised access).
Information that is considered to be secure must meet
all three criteria.
If just one is compromised security has been breached
and personal and/or private data may be at risk of a
serious cyber attack. Therefore, it is crucial that all three
principles are protected at all times.
The main principles of information
security are collectively known by the
acronym CIA.

What is Cyber Security
 cyber security is the means by which individuals and organisations protect their digital files data, networks and programs This is often
done through good practices, including the safe storage of data.
 The main function of cyber security is to protect both the devices we use (computer Laptops smartphones ,etc ) and the data we access
from malicious attacks, damage or misuse.
 Cyber security A form of data protection The information that protected may include:
 Private and personal information.
 Sensitive or private information about employees clients patients or Customers.
 Confidential business integration.
 Intellectual property.
Cyber security also means presenting your work computer, home computer and personal device from being Infected with malware
and viruses.
The National Cyber Security Centre defines cyber security as the protection of internet connected systems, the data on them and the
services they provide from unauthorised access harm or misuse.

Why is cyber–Security Important
Britain is targeted by up to 1,000 cyber attacks every hour.
Research by Beaming, a business internet service provider, found that on
average, UK businesses were subjected to 119,659 internet-borne cyber
attacks each in the first quarter of 2019.
Action Fraud, the UK's National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre
reported that between October 2017 to March 2018, £ 706 million was lost by
victims .
During this same period 332,570 crimes were reported to Action Fraud. Of
these 62% were from businesses and 39% from individuals .
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported 535,000 cases of
unauthorised access to personal information from July 2018 to June2019.
The UK government found that 32% of all businesses have identified at least
one cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months (2018/9).
The average annual cost to businesses as a result of information breaches In
2019 was £4,180. While for charities this cost was significantly higher at£9 470.
You must be vigilant when online and take measures to prevent cyber attacks
from being successful. The following statistics on cyber security demonstrate
the scale of the threat

Who is at Risk
 Anyone who accesses the internet is vulnerable to cyber attacks.
 Attacks are performed by individuals who wish to gain unauthorised
access to your information, usually for malicious intent. These people are
often referred to as hackers.
 Hackers develop and use complex computer programs that attack
networks, usually at random.
 Attacks can happen to any device that is connected to the internet
whether via a fixed connection or over Wi-Fi (wireless internet). This
includes desktop computers, laptops, tablets (such as iPads),
smartphones and any other device that uses the internet.
 Cyber attacks can happen at any time of day or night whether you're
online for five minutes or five hours. They can affect just your individual
network your whole offices network or the networks of hundreds of
businesses around the world,

Employee Responsibilities
Even if you don't work at a desk every day, most jobs will require you
to carry out some tasks using the internet. Therefore, you have a
responsibility to take basic internet safety precautions.
As an employee, you must protect any information held about your
customers or clients. your organisation your colleagues and yourself
from misuse or unauthorised access.
Under the Data Protection Act 2018 any information that you handle
about customers patients or clients needs to be held securely and
confidentially. The Includes names and addresses contact details
banking information, medical records, etc.
Similarly, you must ensure that any intellectual property belonging to the business, as well as any operational or financial information is
kept secure and inaccessible to those who do not have access permissions.
You should follow these same principles at home. Consider what information you store or share online including personal contact details,
photos, usernames and passwords

Cyber Security Survey
Consider the following questions and compare the behaviours to your current internal habits

Summary
Ø Information security is the protection of information from unauthorised
access, use disclosure or destruction through various means This Includes,
but is not exclusive to, electronic data.
Ø Cyber security is the means by which individuals and organisations protect
their digital files data, networks and programs from malicious attacks,
damage or misuse.
Ø Under the Data Protection Act 2010, you must protect any information held
about your customers, your organisation your colleagues and yourself from
misuse or unauthorised access.
Ø You should follow the same principles a home to ensure the information you
store online including personal contact details photos and credit card details
is secure

In this part of the course, we’ll take a
look at different types of cyber
attacks that you may come across in
the workplace and at home. This
module focuses on the most common
cyber attacks in the UK, explaining
what they are how they work and the
possible consequences of each.
Introduction
As technology advances, so do
cyber attacks, so it's important
that you keep up to date with the
latest developments and risks to
information security

section are:
 Phishing
 Spear phishing
 Malware, viruses, worms and Trojans
 Ransomware
 Protecting yourself from a cyber attack

Phishing
Phishing gets its name from ‘Fishing for Information’
meaning the process of getting people to disclose
their personal information themselves. To do so, the
hacker relies on people trusting messages or
conversations as being genuine.
Phishing is a popular method for cyber attackers
because it's an easy way of targeting large groups of
people and has a high success rate. It's known as a
social engineering technique because it exploits
human weakness by manipulating and deceiving
people into sharing their confidential Information.
Phishing is the most common type of
cyber attack in the UK. It refers to any
attempt made by cyber hackers to obtain
information such as usernames.
passwords or bank details.

Phishing
The email could look as though it's from the technical
support department of an organisation or a personal
contact known to the target. Crucially, the email will
often look legitimate.
For example, you may receive an email that appears to
be from your bank. Often, this fake email claims you
have been hacked or there is an issue with your
account. Messages like this make people incredibly
worried and so they are more likely to act quickly and
often somewhat irrationally You may be asked to
confirm your credit card number and security code via
Phishing attackers pretend to be a
trustworthy party, usually through an
email they send out..
a link to what seems to be a legitimate website. If you click this link and log in with your personal details, you’d effectively be handing over
your bank details straight to the attacker. Once the hacker has your private details, there is a nigh risk of them accessing your data, including
you savings. Even if you do get the money you have lost refunded, it can be incredibly stressful to try and do so

Spear Phishing
 To increase their chances of success, the attacker may
find out personal details about the target person or
organisation to ensure that their emails look
legitimate and trustworthy. They will often
impersonate a company or a person that target
knows.
- For example, the attacker may send an email to each
member of the finances team in your organisation asking
for money to be forwarded to a specific bank account.
The email will look realistic and appear to have been sent
by the CEO, when, in reality, the employees would be
sending money straight to the attacker
 Many well-known companies such as Sony and
Snapchat have fallen for spear phishing attacks.
Spear phishing is a type of phishing attack
that is directed at specific organisations or
individuals, rather than large groups of
people at random. It is becoming
increasingly common.

Malware
Malware is short for malicious software' and is designed to disrupt or damage
data, software or hardware. Often, this means your device will no longer work as it
should do.
The attacker can install the malware onto your device using a variety of methods.
All of them rely on you being tricked into downloading software for example:
By clicking on an unsafe link or attachment in an email you may unknowingly
download the malware.
The malware may be attached to a link on a website which automatically
downloads when you click on it.
The malware may be packaged in with fake copies of normal software such as
pirated copies of Microsoft Office.
A You may download the malware by clicking on a pop-up window such as an
advertisement.
You may click on an unsafe link on a social media post that appears to have
been posted by one of your friends

Viruses
 This prevents the computer from running as it should do
and can result in corrupted files and damaged software. It
can even allow the attackers access to your computer by
opening up a back door.
 Viruses attach themselves to executable files. This means
that the virus is not active until you open the file or
application where it is stored. For example, if the virus
attaches itself to the Microsoft Word application, the virus
will activate every time you open up a Word document.
Once active the virus can make a copy of itself somewhere
else on your computer and this process repeats.
 Viruses can spread from computer to computer using your
internet connection or computer network as well as
through file sharing or email attachments. 5o. If you have
an infected Word document and you email to your ca
league the virus will become active on their computer as
soon as they open the file
A virus is a type of malware that when you
download it copies itself onto parts of data.
computer applications or crucial parts of a
computer's hard disk.

Worms
Worms are similar to viruses in that they are also a type of malware that makes
copies of itself to spread between devices.
Unlike viruses, however, worms are standalone software and can copy themselves
like clones: they do not need a host file or application to join onto, Worms don't
tend to damage or corrupt data as viruses do either Instead. they aim to install a
back door in the network that allows the attacker to access your device and
Information.
Worms spread through vulnerabilities or failures in the security of the devices
system They spread across the network that you are connected to such as your
office network and can quickly infect an entire workplace .
Worm attacks have four stages:
1 The Worm probes machines to try and find any vulnerabilities that can be b led
to copy itself onto.
2 Once the worm has located a vulnerability, it penetrates the machine and
exploits this weakness
3 Next, the worm attaches itself to the remote math where stores
4 Finally, the worn will self replicate, identifying new devices and to try and probe
to repeat the process and spread

Trojans disguise themselves as legitimate software or programs, such as a
screensaver or an app, so that people are tricked into downloading them onto
their devices.
Once the Trojan has been downloaded the malware provides the attacker with
access to your device. This means they can copy your files delete information,
monitor what you are doing and activate and spread other malware, such as
viruses.
Trojans do not replicate themselves as viruses and worms do Instead, they are
spread by device serial downloading infected attachments programs or files.
Trojan
A Trojan is another type of malware that can damage your device. It is
named after the wooden horse that the Greeks hid inside to infiltrate and
attack the city of Troy.

Ransomware
The attacker will often threaten to publish the confidential files or permanently
delete them unless the user pays the ransom within a certain amount of time.
Potentially, all of the data stored on the infected device could be lost.
Ransomware is usually disguised as a legitimate file, such as an email attachment
tricking the user into downloading it onto their device.
The WannaCry cyber attack mentioned in the previous module is an example of
ransomware it infected thousands of computer networks around the world
Including those used by the NHS. This ransomware was different to most because it
didn't require user interaction to spread between computers
Ransomware is malware that gains access to your files, locks them so they
become inaccessible and then demands payment for their release or decryption.

Protecting Yourself from a Cyber Attack
When it comes to protecting yourself and your device from potential cyber
attacks:
Don't click on any email attachments or links that you are uncertain of.
Always be cautious when clicking on email attachments or downloading
software or apps as this is often how malware infects devices.
Keep all software up to date. One of the main reasons as to why the NHS was
particularly vulnerable to the WannaCry ransomware attack was because
advice to update software and systems was ignored.
Protect your device with security software. Norton or MCAfee are
recommended by cyber security experts as some of the best available.
Keep all data securely backed up. This way, if you fall victim to cyber attack
you will not lose all your important data However. this does not stop the
attacker from gaining access and threatening to leak for that may be
confidential
Don't pay the ransom Paying it does not guarantee that the attacker will
release your files back to you or that they' stop blackmailing you once they
know you are want to pay.

Summary
Ø Phishing is the process of getting people to disclose their personal
information. The hacker relies on the trusting messages or
conversations as being genuine.
Ø Spear phishing is a type of phishing that is directed at specific
organisation or individuals, rather than age groups of people at
random.
Ø Ransomware gains access to your files lose them so they become
inaccessible and the demands payment for heir release or
decryption.
Ø Malware, such as viruses worms and Trojans, attack your device and
prevent from working properly. The attacker gains access to your
device when you click on an infected file link or attachment
Ø Identity theft is a type of cyber attack the involves the theft of
personal details becomes identity fraud when these details are used
to commit fraud

Introduction
Information security includes physical
forms of data as well as electronic For
example, information that is printed or
written out. Consider again the CIA
acronym: central to information security is
ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and
availability of data is protected and
maintained. If just one of these is
compromised, then the security of
personal and/or private data is at risk.
You need to be aware of the internal and
external threats to information security.
This module will also explain how
organisations can manage their
vulnerabilities to these threats, as well as
the specific areas that are most at risk
The first module of this course
introduced information security as the
protection of information from
unauthorised access, use, disclosure
or destruction.

section are:
 Internal threats to information security.
 External threats to information security.
 Areas at risk of information security threats

Threats to Information
Security
§ As well as understanding and managing the threats to cyber
security, you need to protect information that is in a physical form.
§ Due to rapid developments in technology, the way we access, and
store information has changed drastically. This means that in most
workplaces, the majority of data is online rather than physically
produced.
§ However, we do keep and rely on information that is written down
or printed out and if confidential documents are left unattended at
your desk, there is nothing stopping someone from taking them.
For example, if a contractor has already been granted access to the
premises, they may have the opportunity to steal the papers with
relative ease. To prevent this from happening confidential physical
documents should be safely secured, such as locked in a filing
cupboard.

Internal Threats to
Information Security
Figures from the UK's Information
Commissioner's Office (CO) show that of the
personal data breaches reported to them in
the first half of 2019:
43% occurred due to incorrect disclosure.
20% were a result of data being posted or
faxed to the incorrect recipient.
18% were due to information being
emailed to the incorrect recipient.
Only 59% were a result of data being given
due to a phishing attack.

Internal Threats to Information Security
 Internal threats to information security originate from inside a company. They
are the result of human action by an employee contractor or supplier. Internal
threats to information security fall into two categories:
1. Accidental, such as data that is leaked due to human error.
2. Intentional, often a malicious action by a disgruntled employee.
 Those working within a company already have much more access to the
systems than any external threat does. They have physical access to the place
where the information (physical or digital) is stored, and often the privileges to
access it such as account passwords,
 As a result insiders may misuse information west, information or commit fraud.
This could be done either accidentally or intentionally,
The difference between internal and external threats to information security
is the identity of the attacker.

introduction to cyber security

The actions of insiders, who are largely internal staff, can pose a serious threat to information security. Arguably, they are the biggest cause
of breaches, rather than external threats such as hacking by a cyber criminal. The main internal threats to information security are:
Human Errors
Employees may accidentally leak data, making what should be confidential accessible to an unauthorised party. For example, you may:
Accidentally leave your work laptop on public transport or misplace a USB device. An opportunist attacker may then steal the
device and gain access to the data.
Accidentally send a sensitive email to the wrong person.
Take work containing sensitive data home and access it on your home network. If there are any weaknesses in your network,
there is a greater risk of a cyber attacker gaining access to your files.
Social Engineering Cyber Attack
As explained some cyber attacks rely on human action on behalf of the employee, this is what makes it an internal threat. Companies
are often targeted by attackers who use the technique of spear phishing. You may receive an email that appears to be legitimate and
seemingly sent by one of your colleagues. However, you click on a link to a document within the small, this could download harmful
malware to your device. There is then the risk of this spreading to the whole network as well as threatening the information security
of a business data.

Further internal threats to information security include
Employees Downloading Malicious Content
Employees may access websites that have pop-ups on pages or have dangerous malware on them. They could be using the internet
for work-related purposes or otherwise, such as surfing the web for personal use. Just going on certain websites alone can result in
malicious content being unknowingly downloaded onto a device. Once here. It has the potential to infect the whole of the company's
network
Stolen or Leaked Data
Employees and particularly those working in IT departments, often have easy access to confidential data. Therefore, a seriously
disgruntled employee has the means to passwords, steal confidential data, or unleash malware onto the company network. An
employee may do so if they were denied a promotion or bonus, they felt they deserved or due to their contract being terminated or
they might have a new job with a competitor, and so be stealing confidential data, such as client information for this purpose.
Some employees may also have infiltrated the company under false pretences. They could be hoping to access and sell information on
the black market or be working for someone else's interests. This is why thorough background checks into a prospective employee are
a necessary measure for jobs that require the handling of certain data

External Threat to Information
Security
External threats are those that come from outside of a
company. Generally, the external threat to information security
is from cyber attackers who intend to steal or damage some
company's confidential data.
Often, external attackers try to locate and then exploit any
network vulnerabilities to security that are beyond the firewall.
However, they may also try to gain access to your data by
breaching the external defences that are in place to prevent
such attacks, such as firewalls and anti-virus software.
Another technique hackers may use is to release a virus. Trojan
or worm into a network. You can return to the previous module
if you require a refresher about the different types of cyber
attack including the three above.
if these attacks by external individuals or parties are successful
they may be able to access confidential data. They might then
steal company or customer data distribute further malware on
prevent access to the data until a ransom is paid.
Verizon's 2019 report concluded that 69% of cyber
attacks were perpetrated by outsiders. Outsiders
represent external threats to information security

External Threat to Information
Security
Often, money is not their motivation, Rather. they are driven by
attempts to promote a certain agenda or religious.
The international group Anonymous are one of the more well
known hacktivist organisations. They frequently operate for
political or social purposes, shutting down the websites of
organisations through DDOS cyber attacks.
For example, in 2016 the group claimed responsibility for a
cyber attack of Narita Airport, Tokyo. The attack that shut down
the airport's website, was in response to the detention of an
American anti-whaling activist as he tried to enter japan.
So-called 'hacktivists' are an external threat to the
information security of some organisations

Areas at Risk of
Information Security
Threats
Although all businesses are at risk of threats to their information security. some
are targeted more frequently. There are also specific areas within an organisation
that are most at risk.
Certain industries are more prone to cyber attacks and other threats to
information security than others
.Data from Verizon's 2019 report concluded that of the breaches in 2018:
 166 were within the public sector.
 15% involved healthcare organisations OF 10% were within the financial
sector.
In addition, small businesses alone were victim to 43% of breaches

Summary
Ø As well as understanding and managing the threats to
cyber security, you need to protect information that
farm in a physical.
Ø Internal threats to information security originate from
inside a company (such as employees) while external
threats come from outside (cyber attackers).
Ø Duplicate copies of data should be kept either on a
hard drive or cloud-based storage such as Google
Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox
Ø Measures to manage organisational vulnerabilities to
threats include installing antivirus software, updating
system encrypting data, monitoring internet usage.
controlling access rights and training employer.
Ø Although the majority of breaches occur within the
public administration sector. a businesses need to
protect in particular, that which is financial, personal
or includes email and passwords combination is more
at risk

How to Improve Information Security

Introduction
 In this part of the course, we'll take a look at the actions you can take to improve your online security. Being cautious when online will
reduce the likelihood of you falling victim to a cyber attack.
 Throughout this module, you'll learn what signifies that a website is likely to be trustworthy, how to create a secure password, how to
identify potentially unsafe emails and how to use social media safely.
 The information in this section can be applied to your online presence both at work and at home helping you to stay safe whilst using
the internet. Most of the practices we suggest can be implemented easily, so start to make the necessary changes as soon as possible

The topics covered in
this section are:
Sharing information
Creating a strong password
Password security
Emails
Social media

Sharing Information
.Before doing so, consider:
Who will have access to the information?
What will happen to the information you have shared?
Is the information one of the characteristics protected by
the Equality Act? For example, does it refer to race,
religion. sexuality, etc.?
Do you have permission to share the information?
How much information actually needs to be shared?
Is sharing the information in line with your organisation's
data protection policy?
Are you sharing the information via the most secure
method or is there a safer alternative
You should always think carefully before sharing any
sort of personal or confidential information online,
whether it be with a person or a service

Before sharing any sort of information online, even if it's simply entering a username and password, you should always check that the
website you re on is reputable and trustworthy
Check the website URL begins with 'https
The majority of website URLS begin with https but be cautious of those with just 'http, https means that communications between the
user and the browser are encrypted converted to code to prevent unauthorised access. These sites are protected by an SSi certificate
that prevents the information from being intercepted as it enters the site and goes to the server.
While you should be looking out for sites with this URL be aware that it doesn't guarantee that a website is legitimate and secure,
Nowadays anyone can apply for a basic SSL certificate and quite easily get an 'https URL meaning it's possible that fake domains may
be used for phishing purposes.
Look for a padlock icon next to the website address
The closed padlock indicates that its connection is secure and means that the information shared between you and the website is
private. You can click on the icon to see summary of how secure your browser believes the connection to be. Your browser such as
Google Chrome will also alert you if you can't visit the site safely or privately.
Always ensure the website URL is exactly what it should be:
Before you click on any links have your mouse over and the URL shows up at the bottom left of your browser. Once on the website look
at the address bar to make sure you on the site you intend to be on. Hackers often make subtle changes that can easily be missed, such
as co-0perativebank.co.uk instead of co-operativebank.co.uk. You Unknowingly end up entering your username and password and
other bark details into a phishing site

 Almost all websites require you to have a password to log in and access their services. When you turn on your computer, it's
likely you'll have to enter a password to log in to you you'll have to enter several others to log into the various software that
you will use in your workplace. When you enter your password, it is matched against the password stored by the website.
Access is then granted if this authorisation takes Place.
 However, coming up with various passwords and then remembering which is for what website can be difficult Therefore,
many people often end up using the same, simple password for several websites.
Passwords are a common way of authenticating individual users online. They allow websites to check your identity
and authorise access to a resource (your account).
Password
A study by the UK'S National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC found that 123456 was the most widely used
password for accounts that are hacked. The simple combination of numbers appeared in 23 million
passwords, followed by other easily-guessed ones such as 123456789 password and qwerty

Creating a strong Password
 One way in which hackers crack people's passwords is by using complex
computer programs. Some of these programs automatically enter random
word and number combinations until they find a match and can login to
your account. The majority of computer systems allow a maximum
number of unsuccessful login attempts, after which the account is locked
This is a measure in place to try and prevent hacking from succeeding.
 Therefore, using a password that is a combination of numbers or your
favourite football team isn't very secure. To prevent unauthorised access
to your accounts your password should be at least 10 characters long and
contain a combination of:
 Both upper- and lower-case letters.
 Numbers.
 symbols/.
 You should avoid using:
 Dictionary words.
 Names Particularly the names of ends family or pets.
A strong password needs to be memorable for the user, while also
being difficult for anyone else to guess.

For your passwords to be more secure there are a few simple rules that you should follow, both at work and at home
Don't write your password down
Avoid keeping a written record of any of your passwords because you never know whose hands, they could end up in. In particular,
never keep passwords on a note next to your computer Essentially, you a be handling access to your accounts straight to any potential
hacker. The same goes for keeping your passwords saved in an online document without password protection
Avoid using the same password for different accounts and change your password regularly .
One of the main reasons as to why someone's account has been hacked is because they use the same password for a secure website as
one that is less protected. This means that an attacker has been able to crack your password for an account on a website that has low
Severity and then used this to access more secure website such as online banking
Never share passwords with anyone else
Each user should have their own individual account and you should keep the password to this confidential. If another employee needs
to access the data , they should be given their own personal login.
Don't Leave account signed in
Although setting all your account to automatically login will make it easier for you to access them, it also make it very easy for someone
else to access your information.

Emails
It is likely you receive spam emails to your work and private mail accounts on a regular
basis. Many of these automatically end up straight in your spam folder, so you may never
actually see them as your email account usually deletes them after 30 days or so.
However, some spam emails will slip through Into your inbox, so it's important to remain
vigilant with all emails that you receive.
There are various warning signs to look out for that may indicate an email has been sent
by a cyber attacker. Remember to consider whether:
You recognise the email address of the sender.
You are expecting an email from the sender.
The email has a normal genuine subject line or looks unusual.
The subject line contains spelling punctuation or grammatical mistakes or
unusual characters
Previously, you learnt about phishing and how attackers can send out fake emails to try and gain access to
confidential, personal or financial information.

Within the body of the email, you should specifically look out for
Who the email is addressed to
Many phishing emails simply say something generic such as Dear user or Dear customer. This is because it's much easier to send a mans
spam email without having to personalize each one. However, be aware that some phishing emails will use your name to try and trick
you into thinking them is genuine.
Spelling and grammatical mistakes
Phishing attacks are often sent from countries where English at the first language. As a result the email may be written in broken
English and with errors.
Calls to act urgently
Spam emails ay request that you provide information quickly claiming that your accounts a risk. Genuine companies such as banks
would never request information using this method. In fact your ever ask for all your account and security details over the internet or
phone.
Low quality images or logo
Pixelated or blurry images , amateur – looking graphics or even colours that don’t seem quiet right may indicate a phishing email.

Social Media
Social media is a very useful platform for cyber attackers to get hold of
your personal details in order to commit identity theft.
As result it's important that you give your social media accounts the
same level of security as you would your email inbox or your bank
account. You need to be careful to not overshare any information that
could aid potential cyber criminals.
You should do this by:
 Making sure that you create and keep secure passwords for social
media accounts, as previously explained.
 Being cautious of what information you share and the passwords
you use, if you work in a marketing department you will likely have
access to and control of some company social media accounts.
 Ensuring your privacy settings are secure. This means you can
restrict who can see and access the content you've shared.
The majority of people have at least one social
media account. This may include Facebook,
Twitter. LinkedIn. Instagram or Snapchat

Summary
Ø Before sharing any sort of information online even if it's simply entering a
username and password, you should always check that the website you're.
Ø When you enter your password, it is matched against the password stored by
the website Access is granted this authorisation successfully takes place.
Ø A strong password needs to be memorable for the user while also being
difficult for "anyone else to guess.
Ø Before sharing any sort of information online even if it's simply entering a
username and password, you should always check that the website youre on is
reputable and trustworthy

introduction to cyber security

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