PayPal or PayPaI

PayPal or PaypaI ?

if you don’t know the difference between the two versions above, then you are vulnerable!

But Vulnerable to what you may ask?

well, vulnerable to your bank accounts been wiped off, sensitive account information and access details stolen from you, digital impersonation and you also put your friends in danger of exploits by cybercriminals.

How?

The second version of “paypal” spelt above ends with an uppercase “i” instead of a lowercase L “l” as you might have thought. you may notice that only very few fonts and browsers properly show the difference between a lowercase “L” and an uppercase “I”.

Therefore for the unaware, an email from “paypaI.com” will lead you into handing over your paypal email and password to criminals without any form of hesitation. yikes!

This is just one example of a type of phishing attack known as URL obfuscation that has become extremely popular over the years.

Most of us receive such emails on a daily. We click on links without proper considerations of possible theft, entering sensitive account login details, unknowingly downloading malware on our devices and more just by following links.

As adults, when we read words, our minds do not process these words sequentially letter by letter or character by character. rather the mind is smart enough to recognise patterns in what we see and immediately guess what a word is. This is why it is difficult for us to pronounce words the first time we see them especially when they have an unusual spelling. This is because the words are unfamiliar to the brain. so it slows down to process each character correctly.

While this may be an explanation as to why so many people have fallen victim to difference types of phishing and url obfuscation attacks by cyber criminals, we cannot underplay the role our carelessness play in making their plight successful.

In Nigeria today, i see url obfuscation attacks fast becoming the rave of the moment. with the use of instant messaging platforms like whatsapp and messenger to share links to our friends and family without carefully analysing what we are sharing and the danger we expose our friends to on a daily basis.

Recently, a very popular one was the shoprite free shopping promos BC’s and the LG giving free television sets BC’s. tricking so many innocent people into giving out their information to criminals for free.

Many a time we may say of what good is my worthless information to them? but you will be astonished as to the results obtained from an analysis of this combined information and the amount of money made from the sale of this data. Now that is a discussion for another day.

Right now, my only intention is to draw your attention to the dangers of phishing attacks which we are exposed to on a daily basis as we communicate with friends and family.

So Next time you want to share a Broadcast message on whatsapp or other IM, Pause. Think. Read through the letters. is this url correct? and what danger do i expose my friends to by sharing this? and anytime you feel uncertain about your answer, don’t share!

Together we can make our cyberworld safer!. #CyberWatchNG #SEE #CyberSecurity