You Should Create A Secret With Your Family

Hackers have no power. Every year, hackers and cyber criminals making billions by persuading people to part with their money. Love trick, business email compromise, money fraud, sextortion—The list of ways criminals prey on people is endless and constantly changing.

Add to that fraud scams, where a criminal pretends to be a loved one and withdraws money. There have been more and more calls for people, especially families, to create passwords or passwords for each other. In early December, the FBI printed recommendations for people to create “passwords or passwords with your family to verify their identity,” and the British bank Starling has also published. instructions in making safe words and others.

It is a simple, or innovative, method that can be useful. For example, if you receive a message or a phone call from “your son” or “daughter,” and they ask you for money to get out of trouble, asking them for the password you agreed upon can reveal if it is them. .

Erin Englund, director of threat research at fraud research firm BioCatch, said: “Fraudsters will use deceptive tactics to lure people into taking risks out of fear, urgency, or desire. “Having a statement or a similar planning process helps victims to confirm that strange interactions are acceptable and manageable.”

Calls to create family passwords or passwords have come as hackers are adopting AI. Machine learning has allowed hackers to create deepfake imitation videos people and make sounds with just a few seconds of audio. Hackers use these words to pretending their relatives were kidnapped and they want to pay a ransom for their release.

“AI is creating a huge threat to businesses and families,” says Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security. Tobac says companies he’s worked with have been receiving AI-style calls, often using fake phone numbers, that try to pose as business managers.

“I also hear about a few families every day who get AI calls that talk to their niece, nephew, or sibling after they’ve been arrested or involved in a car accident where they hit a pregnant person and they need legal fees. fines and bail,” says Tobac.

Making a Good Family Recipe

As with your online passwords, there are dos and don’ts when it comes to creating a password. For starters, you shouldn’t create a password that’s the same as your password, and it shouldn’t be something that a hacker can easily find—such as street names, birthdays, pets, or other personal information that can be shared online.

Englund says: “Even if you keep social media private, your data is available to your contacts and followers who can be hacked.”