Earlier today, the Associated Press Twitter account was hacked, posting a false tweet about an attack on the White House. The fake tweet rattled quite a few feathers today, even causing stocks to briefly drop over 100 points. The twitter account has since been suspended, and they have been working to correct the issue.
After the incident, Mike Baker reported that the employees of the Associated Press received a phishing email about a half hour before the hack. Phishing emails use suspicious links or attachments to record your confidential information.
If these hackers were able to bring the AP, as well as the stock market, momentarily to its knees today, think of the damage they could do to the rest of us. That’s why we’ve compiled these safety tips to help protect you from these kinds of attacks:
- Do not trust an email with grammatical and/or spelling errors.
- Look for your name. If an email contains generic greeting or just uses your email as the greeting itself, this is a major red flag.
- Roll over links to see the actual URL. If it does not match up with what the text says or you’re unsure, don’t click on it.
- Don’t trust solicitations. West Community does not send text messages or emails to members asking for credit card or personal information that could compromise the security of your identity and finances.
- If you are really in doubt, call the number on the back of your debit/credit card. Don’t trust any phone numbers contained in the email itself.
- Sometimes these emails will look very legitimate. We suggest you treat all email as suspicious. Think before you click on the link or attachment and use your better judgment.
For more information about online safety and protecting your identity, be sure to check out our security videos library.
