Start Cyber Resilience and Don’t Be an April Fool This Spring and Beyond

Did you know?

In 2008, the BBC documentary division pulled one of the greatest April Fool’s pranks of all time, broadcasting a short video of never-seen footage of penguins flying. The documentary, called “Miracles of Evolution,”  had millions of watchers in awe as they viewed a colony of penguins who regained the ability to fly and migrate south to the rainforest of South America.

On April 1^st, people play practical jokes on friends and family. Sadly, harmless pranks and TV announcements are not the only things to expect on April Fool’s Day.

In the digital age, April Fool’s Day comes every day, with online tricksters and malicious actors targeting unwary individuals with an unsavory and highly damaging arsenal of ruses.

When it comes to your online and financial security, nothing beats awareness and vigilance. This April Fool’s Day, we call upon the entire digital community to embrace a mistrustful attitude toward online communications.

Let’s revisit the most effective cyber hygiene practices to avoid becoming an April Fish:

• Examine all unsolicited communications closely. Don’t access links or download attachments from unfamiliar senders, and never comply with any requests for sensitive information, including passwords, credit card information, Social Security numbers, and other forms of ID.
• Check the facts. Whether you’re watching a video on social media, reading a post, or interacting with a purported government official, always double-check information through official sources, things that scammers never want you to do.
• Remember that no legitimate organization or government employee will send threatening communications and press you into sending money (via crypto, wire, or gift cards), handing over sensitive information, or installing remote access software.
• Stay informed about deepfakes and AI-powered scams that are consistently spread via social media platforms to defraud users.
• Maintain the security of online accounts by never reusing passwords, keeping operating systems up to date and making use of privacy settings whenever possible.
• Stay informed about breaches that involve the exposure of your personal data and commit to limiting the amount of information you willingly share online, including via social media.
• Consider using a security solution to protect your devices and data against phishing, ransomware and other malicious attacks.

Do you need help fending off online scams, fakes, impersonations and fraud?

Use Bitdefender Scamio, our next-gen AI chatbot and scam detector, to find out if the online content you interact with or the messages you receive attempt to scam you.

Scamio is completely free and does not require any installation. You can access Scamio on any device or operating system via your web browser or through Facebook Messenger for a convenient and hassle-free way to spot scams.