Look over your shoulder....cold truth of Shoulder Surfing

Picture this....

It is 10 pm at night and you just got home to put down your keys, your coat and shoes after a long days work. No one is home, your kids are at your mother's house and your spouse has yet to come home from their job, so you pour yourself a glass of of wine and sit down in front your computer. You decide to look at your finances through the account on the bank website, but you realize something rather quickly about your account, YOU HAVE NO MONEY!

Then you freak out. You even call your spouse with accusations but to no avail because they know just as much as you do, absolutely nothing. So you think and you think, when you realize something. When you received your weekly check today at work you decided to deposit your check via the bank's smartphone app. The problem there, is while your typing up your phone security codes, usernames and passwords a mischievous co-worker was right behind you, right over shoulder, leaving you to be a victim shoulder surfing. One of the most easiest ways to invade someones privacy and obtain sensitive information but also the most easily preventable.

 Don't get me wrong. There are a a plethora of cyber attacks out there other than the one discussed that can be done without the simplicity of looking over someone's shoulder such as: 

• Ransomeware
• Internet of Things Botnet
• Phishing and Whaling attacks
• Business process compromise attacks 
• Machine Learning and enabled attacks  

These cyber attacks are the most dangerous of 2017 and a lot more subtle for the average user. The key to prevention from these attacks are the usual IT protection software's like McAFEE or Norton, amongst others.

 Compared to these other attacks shoulder surfing can be considered the most dangerous because it is the most underestimated. 

 To prevent shoulder surfing, it is important to shield paperwork or the keypad from view by using one's body or cupping one's hand. When working on a laptop, ensure that your back is to a wall with no open sides close to you or to enter your passwords in a secluded location. It is also advisable to purchase a tinted screen for privacy which can protect against peripheral viewing. Below is a tinted screen made for laptops to protect against on lookers. 

 
Please! do not underestimate shoulder surfing and protect your data.

Thanks for reading my blog !