Fishing (aka Phishing) is real?

I was puzzled when I asked my 14 year old daughter this question today and she didn’t understand. The young one, who has been born in this internet world. She has never known her youth without internet. I asked her “So when they ask you odd questions, like who was your first grade teacher?

Brown S, (2022 March 27) These Phishing Tactics Disguised as “Fun” on Social Media. Here is What to Look for (https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/these-phishing-tactics-disguised-as-fun-on-social-media-heres-what-to-look-for/)

Do you answer? Then we went on to discuss social media and what to look for. This type of questioning from someone is to ask you to provide information that only you would know. That’s the whole point of Phishing. Not Fishing to obtain fish. They want to gather information about you to hack your account and get your personal information. This is how hackers are able to hack your account because they are able to answer the random questions you set up when you set up your account.

I asked my daughter if they have had a conversation about this in school. I asked her if this was something that was discussed in class. She said no, she couldn’t remember. I feel like a have not properly prepared my daughter for the cyber world of social media. Haven’t I seen my own Facebook friends answer these type of questions and surveys? Didn’t my friends feel pressure to reply to one of their friends posts and share it to their own page so others can do it as well?

It could be set up as a survey with a bunch of what look like random personal questions……..wait……..what? Like the one my daughter talked about that was going around SnapChat a few years back where wanted you to fill out a survey. Starting with her full name??

What was the name of the street you grew up on? Yikes…..don’t answer that.

It is important to build your own social media image as I am learning, your own personal brand on social media. Now I need to worry about my fourteen year old daughter submitting a survey in Snapchat on random questions so hackers can hack her account?

Have you had a conversation with your teenager about Phishing not fishing on social media?

Tweets by kerryloves2sew

Kerry McGrath 2022, March 28 Twitter Account

References

Brown S, (2022 March 27) These Phishing Tactics Disguised as “Fun” on Social Media. Here is What to Look for (https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/these-phishing-tactics-disguised-as-fun-on-social-media-heres-what-to-look-for/)