Can they hack you just by knowing your date of birth? Yes and no. At least hackers are using a new technique, a new trick, to steal all your data if they know when you were born. But of course, they will always need you to make a mistake. In this article we explain why a congratulatory mail It can be very, very dangerous. We will give you some tips to be protected and not have any problems.
Phishing attacks with birthday greetings
There are many personal information of each one of us who can be leaked on the internet. Just our name, email address or maybe mobile phone. But what about the date of birth? Of course it can also be on the Internet. In fact, it is as simple as that at some point you have put it on a page, forum or application that has suffered a security breach. Even if you have your Facebook open and they go in to see when they congratulate you.
So what do hackers do? They take advantage of your birthday to send you a congratulatory email. A simple birthday card with maybe some discount code or whatever is attractive enough to make you click on a link or download a file.
And of course, think that this is not something strange. That is, it is very common to receive a congratulations from a page where you are registered, from an online store where you usually buy and that they even send you a discount code as a gift to attract you to a future purchase. We do not suspect that this congratulation, one more, could be a trap.
The goal of cybercriminals is very clear: to make you click on a link that is sent to you along with the greeting or to download a file. That can lead to password theft or a virus slipping through. A Phishing attack In all rules. All this has been detected by NordVPN.
What to do to be protected from these attacks
So what can we do to be protected from this type of attack? Whether it is a congratulatory email or any other you receive, it is essential to common sense. You should never log in to your bank, social networks or any platform through a link that is sent to you by email. That can be a trap. You should also not download files if you do not know 100% that they are reliable.
It is also a good idea to have security programs. If you accidentally end up clicking where you shouldn’t, you may be downloading a virus without realizing it. That is where a good antivirus comes in. It will issue a warning that the document you are downloading is dangerous or even automatically delete it. There are many options, but some of the most used are Windows Defender or Avast, to name a few.
Also, you need to have your updated devices. Hackers in many cases use Phishing emails to reach a computer that may have a vulnerability. In this way they manage to enter the system and steal personal data. Always use the latest versions available.
In short, if you receive an email congratulating you on your birthday, be very careful. It is probably harmless and nothing happens, but it could also be a fake email following the strategy we have mentioned. Do not click or download files without knowing for sure that they are legitimate. Avoiding banking Phishing attacks, for example, is essential today.
