Russian experts give tips on how to prevent personal data leakage

In Russia, the number of cyber attacks increased by almost a quarter in the first quarter of 2020, said Anton Kukanov, head of the Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo) for Digital Expertise, citing Positive Technologies data.

The expert also clarified that about 13% of fraudulent links were related to the topic of the coronavirus pandemic. He drew attention to the fact that almost half of all stolen information in the first quarter of 2020 were usernames and passwords.

According to Anton Kukanov, the main purpose of scammers is not the personal data of users, but payment information.

“They use phishing campaigns, social engineering techniques, and a wide range of malicious programs for this purpose, such as keyloggers that record and transmit passwords, remote access programs that allow a hacker to control the device,” said Mr. Kukanov.

The expert advises not to click on suspicious links and not to use sites with illegal content in order to prevent fraudsters from stealing logins and passwords. In particular, resources with free movies, including new products, or games that users love so much, can actually be “monetized” by viral software.

“It is also not recommended downloading applications on third-party sites. You need to do it exclusively in official stores, otherwise, you can quickly “catch” the virus. However, there is a risk of “infecting” the gadget through the official store, although less”, noted Anton Kukanov.

Moreover, a specialist from Roskachestvo advises looking at the rating of the application before installing it and read reviews without fail in order not to download an application with a virus.

He also recommended paying attention to the permissions that are requested by installed applications. For security reasons, according to Kukanov, it is better to reject those that contradict the meaning of the application.