The world cup starts Sunday 20th November 2022, and cyber criminals never miss an opportunity. By using techniques such as phishing and social engineering (amongst others) they will attempt to steal personal or financial information.
Here are a few things to be aware of to help stay safe:
Kick Off
Be aware of the following in e-mails subject lines and links:
- World Cup apps
- Live matches/streaming sites
- Free merchandise
- Betting links
- Give away prizes
- “You have won a prize!” for a competition you haven’t entered
Half Time
Be aware of accessing World Cup or FIFA websites, some websites that appear in a Google search will be fraudulent and entering personal details or bank details can lead to a compromised account or money out of your account.
Illegitimate websites can boost their site rankings via search engine optimisation strategies or advertisements. This will lead to links appearing at the top of the web search above the legitimate sites. Click with care!
The final score
Never succumb to the temptation of freebies, if e-mails come in from unknown senders of if its an unsolicited message from a known sender (it can be easy to spoof e-mail addresses).
If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
If you are holding a local sweepstake, please consider other methods of sending information other than a spreadsheet attachment within e-mails.
Added Time
If you are unsure about any email you can always forward it to the QUB Cyber Security Team at abuse@qub.ac.uk for advice