(WWJ) -- October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and officials are trying to help the public be safer when using technology.
Many people in recent months have been receiving suspicious text messages and emails with scammers posing as their pharmacies, trying to get more personal information.
David Derigiotis, a cybersecurity expert with Burns and Wilcox, tells WWJ people should be suspicious of any unsolicited contact out of the blue, claiming you need to click a link, open an attachment or verify any personal information.
Derigiotis says large pharmacies could be a prime target for scammers because so many people use them.
He says Kroger was involved in a large data breach earlier this year, when some employee information, HR data and pharmaceutical records were accessed.
“And now we may be seeing the impact of that,” he said live on WWJ Monday. “We may be seeing the effects of criminals finally getting around to some of that data-rich pharmaceutical information in the form of either text messages that are going out or any type of phishing emails.”
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Derigiotis says anyone who receives unsolicited communication should disregard it and go directly to the source to check your account.
It may be tricky identifying potential scams, especially when they come directly to your phone, but Derigiotis shares several red flags people should be looking for, especially when the communication is unsolicited:
-- Drawing you to take action
-- Asking you to click on a link
-- Asking you to verify your identity
-- Asking you to type a username, email or password
“If they’re prompting you to provide information and you did not initiate that communication, those are always very big red flags,” Derigiotis said.
Derigiotis says you should disregard suspicious texts. You can also forward them to your cell phone carrier at 7-7-2-6 - which stands for “spam.” It will raise a flag in the system so others can potentially have those text messages blocked.
More information on Cybersecurity Awareness Month can be found on cisa.gov.
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