Lesson 5. Account hijacking.

So, you’ve protected your bank cards. Is that everything? Not a bit of it!

You still have lots of other juicy stuff that cybercriminals are after. Of particular interest are your accounts for social networks, stores, music services, online cinemas, and other paid entertainment resources. You might think that no one except you could care less about them, but you’d be wrong.

Suppose your Facebook account gets stolen. You might soon receive an email asking for a ransom to recover it. “If you refuse,” writes the ransomer, “I’ll post nasty things about your boss in your name.”

An account with many followers can also be sold. As a result, your friends will be flooded with ads or posts with links to malware disguised as “really handy tools” that you supposedly recommend – all in your name.

Scammers can also send messages to your friends asking to borrow money. Someone is bound to respond. And the consequences will be yours to untangle.

Cybercriminals pay special attention to private messages. Who knows, they might uncover some useful dirt. For example, a less-than-modest photo you sent to a friend (or they to you)... In this case, the chances of squeezing a ransom out of you just became exponentially higher.

Do you use car sharing? A useful service, that’s for sure. But if your credentials get stolen, the cyberthief will likely sell your account to a freeloader looking to ride around at someone else’s expense. Yours, to be precise.

Even a paid subscription to an entertainment portal might interest a cybercriminal. Imagine that you signed up to an online movie theater, and paid for a year’s access in advance. If your username and password get stolen and offered at a lower price than the official subscription, a buyer is sure to be found. You’ll end up funding someone else’s movie nights-in.

Any account is a marketable product, and attackers know very well how to monetize it. But first they need to steal it.

How do they do that? That’s what we'll talk about next!