Seriously, stop sharing your vaccination cards on social media

Seriously, stop sharing your vaccination cards on social media

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He argued that they would be hard pressed to deceive him based on everything that appeared on the card: “What scam are you going to run at me just knowing what my name and my birthday are? Unless you sign up for free ice cream ships on my birthday and do not give it to me, in which case, yes, it is very serious. ‘

But it’s not just his birthday that is listed. The map showed medically sensitive information, including the number of the vaccine, the clinic and the vaccination mark. And for some people, the card contains even more.

As the Covid vaccine spreads to more people across the country, I no longer take note of how many vaccine information cards have been seen in social networks and chat programs. While selfies are being encouraged as a way to bring joy to being vaccinated and broadcast as people do their part to stop the spread of Covid-19, several government agencies have warned about the risks of publishing vaccine cards.
“Think of it this way – identity theft works like a puzzle, consisting of pieces of personal information. You do not want to give the identity thieves the pieces to complete the picture,” the Federal Trade Commission said in a blog post. last month. “Once identity thieves have the necessities, they can use the information to open new accounts in your name, claim your tax refund for themselves and do other identity theft.”

Cyber ​​security experts said they were not aware of any hacks or scams specifically related to the vaccination cards, although the roots of identity theft are difficult to detect. But some have also said that these security threats are easy to carry out.

According to Mark Ostrowski, head of engineering at cybersecurity company Check Point Software, for the time being it is ‘speculation but plausible’. “Hundreds of millions of people will be vaccinated. If the cyberattacks repeat themselves, these threatening actors or fraudsters will try to find a way to exploit this situation.”

At the same time, there were a number of scams Covid-19, ranging from people pretending to be Covid-19 contact detectives, to fake websites promising vaccine appointments.
Many of us (perhaps my editor included) can be insensitive to the risks given how much information we accept online is already available about us – either because we posted it ourselves, it was harvested from public data, or because it was dumped as part of a previous security breach. But Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker specializing in social engineering, said one of the biggest concerns surrounding the vaccine card trend is that the information is visible in one place and easily accessible.

“Placing an unprocessed vaccination card unfortunately makes it much easier for a criminal to target a specific person,” she said. In some cases, the medical record number of a person is indicated on the card. “To be able to access sensitive medical records by telephone, with the medical record number, surname and date of birth – all of which are indicated on the vaccination card – is all I need to confirm as a person and gain access to sensitive details.”

A cybercriminal can try to imitate you and call your healthcare company to find out more about your medical history or diagnoses, cancel upcoming procedures, change prescription doses and more.

With or without the medical record number, she said, vaccine cards could also enable a hacker to execute a phishing scheme to steal data and passwords. With the lot number of the vaccine you received or the place where you got the chance, they could cheat the email address of the facility with a message about for example a remember I encouraged you to click on a link, presumably to reschedule an updated dose, but actually intended to take information from you.

This does not mean that you should ignore any email you receive about your vaccine, but it’s a good reminder to be considerate of the links you click with any email address on any topic and to make sure that the sender is who he says he is.

People who are more in the public eye, whether they have influential, famous or journalists like my editor, have a greater threat of this because criminals are more likely to target them. Stealing their free ice cream ships on their birthday is just the beginning.

“There are all sorts of issues related to potential identity theft,” says Michela Menting, a research director specializing in cyber security at technology consulting firm ABI Research. “Individuals need to be as careful about posting vaccine records as they would be about putting their credit card numbers online.”

My editor maintains that he only posted his vaccine card online because it was privately shared to his followers, but security experts have long said the people most likely to commit identity theft are friends and family.

This is not to say that people should limit everyone to the vaccine on social media. Safer options include cutting out details on a map or choosing a selfie instead. Some vaccines dispense stickers, just like those received by voters on election day. Taking a picture while wearing the sticker gets the same message without the security risk.

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