I just clicked on a link in an email from someone I didn’t know.
Dangerous! Stupid! And automatic.
The email said I’d been nominated for something or other and looked very professional.
And before I could engage my brain to stop myself I’d clicked the link to accept the nomination. How dumb can you be?
Very, it turns out.
Despite having friends who’ve lost their life savings to scammers, and years of being told not to click on ANY links in emails, I still did it anyway.
I know exactly how phishing works. I clicked anyway. Thank you, ego!
Very clearly, cybersecurity awareness doesn’t make me immune because scammers have become clever enough to exploit human impulses – including in my case, my sense of self-importance.
Is clicking links in LinkedIn DMs any safer than emails? No, but at least there’s a ‘stop and think’ page between LinkedIn and the link destination.
Clearly something that I need with emails.
PS I put my system through a security check immediately I realised my folly and fortunately got a clean bill of health. But it could so easily have been otherwise!