What is Vishing?
19-05-2024
1 min read
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Overview:
Recently, the government released a circular warning its employees of a sophisticated cybercrime— vishing.
About Vishing
- It is a short form of voice+phishing, carried out through a call on a mobile phone or landline.
- It’s a technique wherein a threat actor calls the victim over the phone and tries to trick him/her into clicking on malicious files or emails, which can then take one to a legitimate-looking website asking to share personal information.
- In other cases, the attacker can solicit sensitive information from the victim.
- It can be so tricky that the caller might appear as the manager or colleague of the victim, enticing her to share sensitive information, at times using urgency as the tactic.
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How to spot a vishing scam?
- A pre-recorded message: On many occasions, a vishing call starts with an automated call claiming there’s an urgency related to financial or other matters, making you click a few numbers or take certain actions.
- Pretending to be a government official: There’s a very slim chance that a government official would directly call you or even email or text. And if you get a call from somebody claiming to be a government official, chances are high that it’s not legitimate.
- Using fear and urgency tactics: In case of a vishing attack, chances are that the scammer would stoke a sense of urgency using threat or fear.
- Poor audio quality: If in doubt, also pay attention to the call’s audio quality and any background noises. At times, there could be robotic-sounding voices, which could mean that it’s a robocall.
Q1: What is Ransomware?
Ransomware is a malware designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their own computer.
Source: Beware of vishing: How not to fall prey to voice call frauds