Page 117 - Cyber Defense Magazine for August 2020

bad actors the highest hit rates from phone phishing scams with frequent attempts being compromise of
personal information and news of harm/captivity of the elderly’s children.

Most of the crimes against the adult population use a similar pattern as fraud against the elderly with no
connection to computers (such as telemarketing of unnecessary services by highly aggressive sales
reps).

The criminals will reach out to those people in a non-suspicious manner - sending a legitimate-looking
email, offering to connect on Facebook or by using a legitimate website that offers them some vacation
or other prize. The criminals will then try to obtain the details of those people. In particular, they will seek
credit card and identification details that allow them to use these cards. Another tactic is impersonating
a person in need and requesting a transfer of funds.

Recently, the FBI arrested a network of criminals impersonating other people (“Captain Garcia” of the US
military stationed in Syria, for example) who then persuaded their victims - many of whom were elderly -
to transfer money to various causes, all of which were fictitious.

Another favorite method of criminals is impersonating "official" entities - government officials,
municipalities and various authorities, while exploiting the trust (or innocence) of those veteran citizens
and fraudulently obtaining their details.

In addition, this population is exposed to "normal" cybercrime - phishing, infection by malware and theft
of personal information. The only difference is that the likelihood of this population recognizing such an
attack is extremely slim, as the ability of people in this age group to understand that they have been
compromised and to seek assistance is minimal. It should be noted that such attacks can also be carried
out against people through their smartphones, which are very popular with this age group. These devices
are usually not installed with protection software that could alert the user to malicious websites or warn
them of attempts to exfiltrate personal details from the device.

What can be done?

It all starts and ends with education, but this time it is the younger generation which needs to educate
their parents. We should remember the warnings they repeatedly told us when we were younger, and
echo similar messages back to them, though in a slightly different way:

- Know your friends and enemies: research shows that the elderly are oblivious to cyber risks, so it's
worthwhile explaining to them some basic concepts and providing them with some examples of criminal
or fraudulent online activities for them to learn from and avoid.

- Do not open the door to strangers, and do not receive anything from strangers: Any communication
from a party that they do not know personally should be treated with caution. It’s wise to assume all
profiles on social networks are fake until proven otherwise.

-Don't tell anyone any personal information - even if you are convinced that you are in contact with an
official, or a real person - do not provide credit card details, residential address or social security number
- certainly not by email or messenger.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – August 2020 Edition 117
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