Chapter 7

I personally enjoyed this chapter the most up to this point in the book. So far most of these social engineering scams seemed so distant and really did not “hit home.” Since I have never held a serious position (just internships) with a company these scams were something that I would read about and keep in mind, however they were something that I had never previously witnessed. The example of the fake e-mail from pay-pal in this chapter is something that I have seen and experienced. Like I mentioned in a previous post for people that do not know a lot about the internet and computers ( like some older Americans) these types of attacks can be especially harmful. I receive periodic e-mails from places such as “Bank of America” with subject lines such as “Mr. Jacobs, we have problems with your account.” Now I don’t even have an account with Bank of America, so it’s easy to spot the scam. However for people that did have an account, it would force them to at least open the mail.

Using computers and the internet practically my whole life, I am able to spot a fake website by looking at the address. Some people that are not that familiar with the internet, would have no idea and just click on the link and fall into the trap. These types of scams are dangerous and hurt e-commerce by giving people a reason to think twice about doing business online. The government really needs to step up efforts along with businesses to stop these attacks before e-commerce is put in jeopardy.