“On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Cartoon by Peter Steiner There’s a reason this cartoon gained popularity in 1993 and has now become an iconic representation of how the internet works. The internet provides a way for people to hide their real identities, which can unfortunately lead to dishonest activities. Nowadays, scammers take advantage of this to deceive people who either trust...

Spoofing refers to an attack where hackers use various ways to disguise their identity so that their victims think they are talking to their coworker, boss, or business. The methods used to achieve this are the typical phishing tropes such as fake websites, links, and social engineering . When spoofing is involved, it’s often more helpful to focus on detecting the facade rather than looking at the...

Personal voice assistants have proven to be a great technological innovation that improves lives daily. With 4.2 billion of these devices in use in 2020 , they are no longer just a novelty, and, with workers staying home for the foreseeable future, voice assistants could pose a sizeable security risk. Voice assistants are mostly known as standalone speakers that people talk to in order to execute...

Know how to identify and prevent a spoofing attack Spoofing attacks are the ultimate form of cybercriminal trickery and deception. Cybercriminals disguise themselves and rely on trust to steal confidential information, install ransomware, and commit other cybercrimes. Spoofing comes down to trust. Cybercriminals hide behind trusted people, domains, URLs, and the technical elements that make up a...

The consumerization of IT is when employees use their own personal mobile devices, such as laptop computers, tablets, smart phones, etc. at work, referred to as BYOD (bring your own device). This use is becoming increasingly common and exposes companies to a variety of risks, including the protection of personal information. Canadian businesses appear to be leading the world in IT consumerization...