Phishing is still a major problem and more and more reports of phishing keep coming in. In the first eight months of this year, suspicious@safeonweb.be received as many as 6 million emails that had been forwarded by internet users because the sender or the content of the mail seemed suspicious to them. This is as many as in the whole of 2022. Febelfin statistics show that victims of phishing lost almost 40 million euros in 2022. In 2021, it was ‘barely’ 25 million euros.
Suspicious@safeonweb.be is the email address of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) to which you can forward suspicious emails.
Phishing, it’s in the details
October is European cybersecurity month. And like every year, the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium and the Cyber Security Coalition have joined forces for a major awareness campaign. This year's theme is phishing. According to the aforementioned figures there is a need to raise people's awareness of this particular phenomenon.
With the slogan "Phishing, it's in the details", the campaign urges internet users to carefully check URLs before clicking. Often the link in a suspicious email is already a telltale sign as to whether it concerns phishing. By carefully looking at 'the small print', you can often tell whether it's safe to click a link and where it will take you. In other words, everything is in the details.
Browser extension and e-learning
To spread their message, the CCB and the CSC are counting on the enthusiasm of several hundred members. They'll receive plenty of communication material: from figures and website banners to posters and online leaflets, videos and posts for social media.
The campaign spot will be on television, in cinemas and social media from mid-October to mid-November and will unveil the Safeonweb browser extension and encourage internet users to install it.
An accessible instruction clip tells you how to install it. Once you've installed the extension, a logo appears at the top of your browser next to the address bar that will change colour when you visit a website. Clicking the logo explains why the website may or may not be safe.
Safeonweb's short e-learning module ‘Surf without worries’ will be expanded from mid-October with five extra modules of about ten minutes each. These modules include information on online payments, downloading apps safely, adequate protection of online accounts, etc. and every module is followed by a short test. In other words, not recognising suspicious links after this campaign will no longer be a valid excuse.
About the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium
The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) is the national authority for cybersecurity in Belgium. The CCB supervises, coordinates and monitors the application of the Belgian cyber security strategy. Through optimal information exchange, the population, businesses, the government and providers of essential services can protect themselves appropriately.
About the Cyber Security Coalition
The "Cyber Security Coalition" brings together security specialists from government organisations, companies and academia with a view to defending the government, trade and industry and the population more effectively against cybercrime in Belgium. To this end, the Coalition exchanges information with members, releases publications with recommendations for companies and launches awareness campaigns to the general public. The Coalition also advises the government and trade and industry in drawing up and developing the necessary cyber security policies.
With this article, we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.