Could World Emoji Day be going any better?
I mean, honestly, look at these:
Apple announced 70 new emojis today. So if you've been waiting for new Apple animal emojis then your ship has come in.
Surely you've been looking for a kangaroo, peacock, parrot, or lobster emoji on your keyboard. The search will be over with iOS 12.0 later this year.
How scammers use World Emoji Day
Here's an amazing number: According to Facebook, there are more than 5 billion emojis shared every day through the Facebook Messenger app alone.
Our love for emojis is so strong, hackers and scammers are taking advantage of it. Especially because we're celebrating that emoji love today. Here are two things to watch out for.
1. Emoji malware scam
Using emojis in social media posts and messages to make cyber scams seem legitimate.
How about this one? That smiling emoji can really draw you in, along with the promise of free stuff:
This image is from a Snopes update talking about social media scam posts that have been going around in 2018. They often contain information that seems too good to be true, but scammers now include an emoji to convince us this is a real post by a friendly person.
In this case, the post spreads malware that then spams your contacts. Embarrassing if you fall for it.
Notice the last comment on this one: "Somehow I got hacked and this posted in every group I am in, so I have been deleting the post every time I find one. I'm sorry."
2. Emoji scam through downloadable emoji keyboards
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is warning about those emoji keyboards you just can't resist. If they're free, do you wonder how the person or company who created it is paying the bills?
"Keyboard apps are fun, and they let you do things like
That often means what you type is being tracked and potentially sold for money to firms that give that data to advertisers who will serve you ads based on what you've been saying and sharing. And what if that data gets hacked because of poor cybersecurity? Then hackers may learn more about you then you'd like.
The ITRC also warns some of these keyboards could spread viruses, so at the very least, stick to those emoji keyboards in the official app stores.
Where is the cybersecurity emoji?
We doubt anyone will speak about the lack of cybersecurity emojis during our fall 2018 cybersecurity conferences, but this whole thing has us wondering: When will Apple or Google come up with a cybersecurity emoji?
And what would it look like?
If you have suggestions, let us know, and we will happily pass it on.
