Information security company Angara: scammers choose WhatsApp due to the large number of potential victims
Photo: Gregor Macak Martin / Globallookpress.com
Cyber fraudsters prefer to attack victims on WhatsApp due to the large number of messenger users, which increases the number of potential victims. Ruslan Kosarim, deputy technical director for business development of the Angara group of companies, said this in an interview with Lenta.ru. He warned the Russians that this threat has become especially urgent on New Year's Eve.
“The New Year holidays are always accompanied by many mailings from companies about upcoming discounts and promotions, and WhatsApp is one of the most popular channels for distributing such messages. Statistics show that users over 35 choose WhatsApp as the main messenger for communication, that is, fraudsters use this application also due to the number of potential victims, ”Kosarim stated.
The analyst noted that cybercriminals' calculations often turn out to be correct. The lack of general cyber hygiene, as well as the New Year's rush, are detrimental to the vigilance of Russians. That is why the security of the devices themselves does not always affect the safety of data. 90 percent of all attacks are designed to mitigate the negative impact of the human factor, which is ensured by the use of social engineering methods.
“On New Year's Eve, scammers motivate users to send messages in the same way as at other times – exploiting human greed and the instinct for self-preservation. In the case of mailing lists on the topic of pre-holiday discounts, we are talking, first of all, about greed and the syndrome of loss of profits that drives people, ”concluded Kosarim.
Earlier, the Russians were warned about other dangerous New Year's tricks of cyber fraudsters. Before the New Year, they switched to combined schemes of deceiving Russians. The most popular of them involves the use of not only bulk mailings, but also dummy call center operators.
