Fake Facebook sites account for 60% of social network phishing

Social network phishing is a form of cybercrime that involves the theft of personal data from a victim's social network account. The fraudster creates a copy of a social networking website (such as a fake Facebook page). They try to lure unsuspecting victims to it, forcing them to give up their personal data. It can be their name, password, credit card number, PIN code, and more.

At the beginning of the year, Facebook was the most popular social networking brand for fraudsters to abuse, and Facebook pages were frequently faked by cybercriminals to try and steal personal data via phishing attacks. This is part of a long-term trend: in 2017, Facebook became one of the top three targets for phishing overall, at nearly 8%, followed by Microsoft Corporation (6%) and PayPal (5%).

In Q1 2018, Facebook also led the social network phishing category, followed by VK - a Russian online social networking service - and LinkedIn. The reason for this is likely to be the worldwide 2.13 billion active monthly Facebook users, including those who log in to unknown apps using their Facebook credentials, thereby granting access to their accounts. This makes unwary Facebook users a profitable target for cybercriminal phishing attacks.

This all reinforces the fact that personal data is valuable in the world of information technology -both for legitimate organizations and attackers. Cybercriminals are constantly searching for new methods to hit users, so it's important to be aware of fraudster techniques to avoid becoming the next target.

Kaspersky Lab experts advise users to take the following measures to protect themselves from phishing:

Honor 7A and 7C first impression

• Always check the link address and the sender's email before clicking anything - even better, don't click the link, but type it into your browser's address line instead.
• Before clicking any link, check if the link address is shown, is the same as the actual hyperlink (the real address the link will take you to) - this can be checked by hovering your mouse over the link.
• Only use a secure connection, especially when you visit sensitive websites. As a minimum precaution, do not use unknown or public Wi-Fi without a password protection. For maximum protection, use VPN solutions that encrypt your traffic. And remember: if you are using an insecure connection, cybercriminals can invisibly redirect you to phishing pages.
• Check the HTTPS connection and domain name when you open a webpage. This is especially important when you are using websites which contain sensitive data - such as sites for online banking, online shops, email, social media sites etc.
• Never share your sensitive data, such as logins and passwords, bank card data etc., with a third party. Official companies will never ask for data like this via email.
• Use a reliable security solution with behavior-based anti-phishing technologies, such as Kaspersky Total Security, to detect and block spam and phishing attacks.