The biggest vulnerability is always the human element.
Cybersecurity Week 2022
The internet is wild, strange, and full of scams. Here’s how you can protect yourself.
Illustration by Vincent Kilbride / The Verge
It’s a truism in the security world, but we rarely dwell on what it means. You can patch a software flaw completely, but there’s no perfect fix for an accounts payable clerk who approves a phony invoice or an executive who falls for a spear-phishing attack. Human beings are complex, and keeping them safe is even more complex. It’s the hardest problem in security — in a sense, it’s the only problem.
So for the next two weeks, we’re taking a look at some cybersecurity stories with the human element at the center, like scammers dangling bogus job offers. These difficult situations are at the heart of the simpler cybersecurity problems we tackle every day, like how to keep your device secure and your messages private. But seen from this angle, we can see how maddening they really are.
Hackers commandeer online accounts at industrial scale. Here’s how to restore and protect your access to Apple, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, TikTok, and Twitter.
Sean Captain
Scammers are increasingly turning to fake job offers as a way to scam unsuspecting victims. Here’s how to tell when something’s not right.
Nicole Froio
Protect yourself with these Android apps
Barbara Krasnoff and Mitchell Clark
Ransomware attacks still plague our healthcare system. Steve Cagle’s cybersecurity company is trying to prevent them.
Nilay Patel
All your cybersecurity questions, answered. Especially if they involve random number generators
David Pierce
We went inside the underground marketplace where hackers sell off verified accounts to make scams more credible
Shubham Agarwal
Hackers commandeer online accounts at industrial scale. Here’s how to restore and protect your access to Apple, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, TikTok, and Twitter.
Sean Captain
Scammers are increasingly turning to fake job offers as a way to scam unsuspecting victims. Here’s how to tell when something’s not right.
Nicole Froio
Protect yourself with these Android apps
Barbara Krasnoff and Mitchell Clark
Ransomware attacks still plague our healthcare system. Steve Cagle’s cybersecurity company is trying to prevent them.
Nilay Patel
All your cybersecurity questions, answered. Especially if they involve random number generators
David Pierce
We went inside the underground marketplace where hackers sell off verified accounts to make scams more credible
Shubham Agarwal
