In one of my last articles, I discussed some of my mistakes from investing in cryptocurrencies. In one of my comments later, I managed to say: "It is easier to learn from your own mistakes, but cheaper to learn from the mistakes of others". That is so true! But, today I don't want to write about cryptocurrencies, but about a recent hacking/theft example I read about in a Hungarian newspaper. The victims had approximately 150,000 USD taken from their bank account, after a quite thorough hacking attempt.
It will most likely never happen like this to someone of us, but there are aspects of this story that you can learn from, as the techniques used by thieves and hackers often are quite similar.
They only wanted to buy a flat...
I am speaking about a couple here and they were only going to buy a flat for their kid. They looked through several ads, and found one that seemed to be fantastic, and at a very good price. The owners said that they had to get rid of it quickly, and that is why it was sold under the market price.
The couple wanted more information and the owners sent them photos of the flat in an email. The owners were happy to receive the email and opened the pictures and installed the program needed to watch the pictures. This was mistake number one.
The file they received contained spyware/malware, and from now on, the thieves could access all the documents on their computer. This gave them access to private documents and official documents, and even passwords.
The next movement of the thieves were to the local mobiles dealer, where the phones of the couple were registered. They brought the official papers (which they had stolen from their computer) and with these, they were licensed to change the SIM cards of the couple.
The couple quickly noticed that their SIM cards weren't working, but when they called the mobile provider, it was said only to be a temporary mistake/outing in that area (I get a bit angry with the mobile provider right here). They even called a bit later, and they still got the same message.
They didn't do anything else at that moment.
The thieves are ready to roll!
At this moment, the thieves had access to passwords and the mobile phones, and thus, the 2FA system of the bank could be bypassed, and the money could be transferred.
It doesn't sound so hard, does it? But, it all shows how terrible and dangerous opening attachments and files you shouldn't trust can be. The bank, in which the funds were kept, later gave the funds back to the owners (meaning that the bank were the ones who actually lost the money here), but still - I feel as if this is an example that we can learn from.
We need to be alert more than ever.
Often we believe that hackers only steal cryptos, and that they are unable to harm our "real money." But, here we can see that not only our files, our cryptos, and our photos are in danger, but our actual bank accounts can also be targeted.
We see more and more hacking attempts online, and the recent Twitter hacking was just one more example of that.
Thank you for reading, stay alert, and stay safe!
This is an original article written by me for Project Hope! First published on Steemit