Cyber Crime Study Day

Report on  Cybercrime Study Day - 12 June 2024

Do you know your phishing from your smishing? Do you know what Courier Crime is? Do you know what a strong password is and how criminals go about trying to crack what your password might be?

Hopefully the 42 members of Tonbridge u3a who attended our Study Day on Cybercrime, and the 12 members who attended via Zoom can answer “yes” to each of the above. For those of you who missed the event, the below provides a brief overview of what was a very informative and thoroughly entertaining session. We were fortunate enough to have two members of Kent Police/the Eastern Region Cyber Project attend our Study Day to talk us through what we as individuals can do to protect ourselves from Cybercrime and Fraud. The session was full of practical tips and included many examples of the types of thing

criminals say and do in order to try and get us to share our personal data with them, including and in particular our personal financial information. Although the session was wide-ranging, the Police were keen to emphasise three key things that we can do, which if adhered to at all times will substantially reduce our risk of being a victim of Cybercrime:

1. Do not click on any links or open any attachments sent to you via email or text message unless you are certain that the sender is who they say they are and is to be trusted. To help you identify whether the sender of an email is from a trusted source, you can hover your cursor over the name of the sender, or right click on it and you should be able to see the sender’s actual email address. Is this as expected? If not, the email may well be a scam so proceed with the greatest of caution and do not click on the link or open the attachment unless and until you have verified that the sender is to be trusted.

2. Always follow the ABC approach when looking at emails or text messages, or speaking with an unknown person on the phone: Don’t

Assume the sender of an email or the person on the phone is who they say they are; Don’t automatically Believe what you read or are being told;

Do take time and proceed with Caution. If a threat is made, the email/ caller may well be a scam so take your time and seek to check the validity of the message by separate means.

3. Make sure you use strong passwords and do not use the same password for multiple websites and apps. A strong password is one that is not easy for anyone else to guess based on your public profile if you have one, e.g. Facebook or because it is easy to remember. It’s OK to write down the passwords you use but make sure you keep them in a place that no one else is likely to find.

If you would like to listen to the recording of the session, you can do so by contacting zoom@tonbridgeu3a.uk.

With thanks to Ollie Johnson for arranging the Study Day, to David Bell and David Rowlands for providing IT support and to Miriam Crundwell for the suggestion.

Rosemary Martin