Firm News

Steve Thomas Commentary: Vigilance is Antidote to Social Media Cyber Threat

As a forum for lawyers to promote their expertise and professional reputations, LinkedIn’s vast network  provides unrivaled access to professional connections. In his latest in Texas Lawyer commentary about issues at the intersection of law and technology, MCS partner Steve Thomas highlights fundamental cyber security threats that come with social networks, even LinkedIn.

Although the professional network offers no platform for money to change hands, crooks still see gold in profile pages, endorsements, InMails and connection requests. Consequently, scams abound, despite LinkedIn’s continual efforts to weed them out,” Thomas writes.

As with email and the internet, users need to be constantly vigilant for the myriad ways that thieves use fake profiles and bogus email outreach to obtain personal information.

Thomas_Steve_6597

Steve Thomas

“Fake job offers, romantic ruses, and Spanish-Prisoner-like cons set up marks to divulge data or pay advance fees. The same approaches used by legitimate recruiters to find potential recruits for open positions can be used by criminals to seduce job seekers into giving up valuable information. Data extracted from victims can be incorporated into spear-phishing or whaling attacks designed to trick employees into wiring funds because they believe their boss is the person telling them to do so.

“Be suspicious of anything claiming that your account might be blocked for inactivity, or inviting you to click on a link or attachment. Since connection requests and other communications in email format can be spoofed, generally it’s better to double-check them by logging in to LinkedIn before clicking any link or opening any document.”

Read the full article here (subscription required).