How Not To Get Hacked: Phishing
About this video
Hackers usually get passwords through human error, such as easily guessable passwords or phishing scams: emails that look familiar and lead to fake sites that steal your login. Links can also trick you into downloading malware. Never give personal or financial information to suspicious messages, go to the real site yourself, and be careful with urgent requests for money that may come from a hacked account.
You'll be able to
- explain what a phishing scam is and how it steals passwords.
- describe how to avoid malware.
- decide how to respond safely to suspicious emails and urgent requests.
Key words
- White hat hacker
- Someone who hacks for good, finding weaknesses so companies can fix them.
- Phishing scam
- A message that looks like it's from a familiar source and tricks you into logging in to a fake site or downloading something.
- Malware
- Harmful software hackers use to spy on you and steal your information.
- Verified source
- A trusted, official place to download software from.
- Impersonated
- When someone pretends to be another person, for example by using their hacked account.
Transcript
My name is Jesse, and I'm a white hat hacker. The white hat hacker is somebody that hacks for good. They try to find vulnerabilities in systems and help those companies get better. You might be asking, how does a hacker get passwords in the first place? It usually happens because of human error, like using an easily guessable password or falling for phishing scam.
A phishing scam is when you get an email from what looks like a familiar source asking you to log in or download something. Following the link will take you to a fake site that looks like the real ones. If you log in, you've been tricked into giving away your username and password and now someone has access to your real account.
Links can trick you into downloading malware. Hackers use malware to spy on you and steal your information. If you accidentally download something like this from the internet, do not install it. Instead, only download software from verified sources. If you see a suspicious email or a text or a website, ask you for personal or financial information, do not fill it out.
Legitimate sites won't ask you to send your password via email, even if an email request looks just like it's coming from a site you trust. It's better to just go to the site itself. And if you see an email from someone you know that says they're stuck in another country and urgently need to be wired money, be careful about how you respond in case their account was hacked and they're being impersonated.
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