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Spear Phishing Simulation

Year: 2023


Presenter Name: Russell Wadsworth

Description
With more advances in technology, spear-phishing has become more prevalent and more dangerous. Spear-phishing is a specific type of phishing where a supposedly trusted individual messages the user extensively to try to grab personal information such as credit cards, social security numbers, and so on. Social media embodies this vicious attack nearly constantly: using profile photos and a similar email, attackers can create a similar profile and account and become friends with the same list of friends as their avatar. After doing so, the attacker sends messages, photos, emails, and other methods of communication to ultimately phish for this information. With further advances, what can we do to inform and prevent these attacks from further occurring? We can make the conclusion that educating users about these threats can help them take a closer look at this threat and figure out how to prepare for the attack. We will want to figure out how best to educate people over this threat, especially since this will not be as easy as sitting everyone down in a classroom and discussing the threat to them. The best practice can be found with experimenting on various ways to teach these principles: through video demonstration, static images, physical experimentation, and even trying to teach this in a classroom setting, we want to conclude on what would be the best way to let others know about spear-phishing. A premature conclusion can be made with using a video or advertisement on Google, but the hold-up would be if people would skip it rather than actively view it. If we can figure out this method or if any other methods work better, we can help protect identities, financial futures, and personal information for millions of computer users from these criminal activities.
University / Institution: Utah Valley University
Type: Poster
Format: In Person
Presentation #C24
SESSION C (1:45-3:15PM)
Area of Research: Science & Technology
Faculty Mentor: Sayeed Sajal