Shoulder Surfing: What is it & how you can protect yourself from this scam

With the advent of technology, people nowadays, store their personal information on smartphones and laptops. Hence, the need to protect such data from unauthorised persons becomes all the more important. Shoulder Surfing, which is quite rampant these days, is a technique of looking over someone’s shoulder to get confidential information.

Know the examples of Shoulder Surfing

Shoulder Surfing is an effective way to collect information in crowded places as its quite easy to stand next to someone as they enter a PIN at an ATM, watch as they fill out a form, pay via a credit card or look when a person is entering the username and password to their social media account/Internet Banking, etc.

Another example of Shoulder Surfing is sitting next to a person and overhearing the conversation when a co-worker is talking about confidential business on the phone. Also, if a person is making use of a public Wi-Fi network, attackers/hackers might intercept private information shared over the network.

Generally, Shoulder Surfing occurs when one shares personal details in public places. The hackers, who are tech-savvy, are smart and unnoticeable and can be found at bars, restaurants, trains, subway, lounges in an airport, etc. Interestingly, they may use binoculars, miniature video secrete cameras, or other optical technology-based devices to spy on their victims, with the motive of getting info like IDs, usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. so that one can profit from it.

Repercussions of shoulder surfing

Shoulder Surfing attacks may empty a victim's account, and can even place one's personal details for criminal activities.

Many a time, fraudulent purchases are being made with credit card information. A victim's bank account and financial well-being as well as one’s credit score could also be harmed if a hacker collects more personal information about them.

How to prevent Shoulder Surfing?

Shoulder Surfing crimes can be prevented by following simple proactive steps. Some of them are enumerated as follows:

• One should be aware of one’s surroundings while making important monetary transactions.
• While entering PINs in ATMs, one must use the body to shield one’s hand movements.
• Using biometric authentication, such as facial recognition, fingerprint scans, or patterns, which cannot be easily replicated. One must make use of these features instead of typing PINs or passwords.
• Use of public Wi-Fi or hotspots should be avoided while logging into sensitive accounts.
• Making use of a 2 or 3-step authentication process.
• Monitoring one's bank accounts and statements regularly and reporting if any suspicious activity is found.