October is Cyber Security Awareness Month (#CyberMonth2022) and this year’s theme is “Fight phishing: Ruin a cyber criminal’s day!” Read below to learn more about this year’s theme and great resources to support it.

What is phishing?

“Phishing is an attack where a scammer calls you, texts or emails you, or uses social media to trick you into clicking a malicious link, downloading malware, or sharing sensitive information. Phishing attempts are often generic mass messages, but the message appears to be legitimate and from a trusted source (e.g. from a bank, courier company).” – Canadian Centre for Cyber Security

Phishing is one of the most commonly reported frauds in Canada. Two common forms of phishing are “smishing” and “spear phishing.”

• Smishing: Fraudulent text messages designed to induce users to reveal personal or financial information via the mobile phone.
• Spear phishing: Spoof emails to persuade people within an organization to reveal their usernames or passwords. Spear phishing is small-scale and well targeted.

What can you do?

• Check out the free resources in the Government of Canada’s Champions toolkit.
• Take the Canadian Bankers Association’s Cyber Security Awareness Quiz to test your knowledge of the latest phishing scams and tactics.
• Participate in the BC Government’s cyber security challenges.
• Don’t click on links from unsolicited messages.
• Don’t download attachments from unsolicited messages.
• Watch for spelling mistakes.
• Don’t trust a message just because the email address looks legitimate; fraudsters can spoof the address.
• Beware of messages claiming to be from the Government of Canada or a law enforcement agency; they will never contact you to offer funds via email or e-transfer.

The Communications Security Establishment is also back with another catchy and educational Cyber Security Awareness Month video, this time as a sea shanty!

To learn more about phishing and how to avoid being caught in a phishing scam, check out the resources below.

Resources

• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: Phishing
• Canadian Consumer Handbook: Phishing
• Communications Security Establishment’s YouTube channel with more helpful phishing videos
• Don’t take the bait: Recognize and avoid phishing attacks
• Get Cyber Safe resources
• National Cybersecurity Alliance (US): Phishing