• In many instant messaging services, you may receive communication from strangers, therefore it is highly recommended that you avoid responding to messages received from unknown numbers until you figure out who they are from. If you still don’t recognize who the message is from, the most advisable option would be to block the phone number.

• If you receive a text message indicating that your credit card or bank account has been disabled, followed by a telephone number where you should call to reactivate it, the most advisable option would be to call the telephone number on your contract or on the institution’s official web page to verify such message.

• Limit the use of personal or corporate emails to those from networks to which you have subscribed and use security levels that avoid direct contact with strangers.
• Carefully read email that request sensitive personal information from unknown sources.
• On social media pages such as Facebook, there is a feature to choose the privacy of your information, where you can block access from people outside your immediate social circle and avoids contact from strangers.
• Avoid uploading pictures on social media that display your home, your place of work or your school, especially when you have an open account.
• Normally around gift-giving holidays, people receive unbeatable gift offers through email, text messages and social media. That is why it is important to verify the authenticity of such offer before making a deposit or purchase
• Deny friend requests from unknown people on social media, such as:
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

• Install an updated antivirus or antimalware with the capacity to verify emails.
• Always be careful when opening emails from unknown senders with attached documents as these may contain viruses.
• If you receive an email with attached files from a sender you know but were not expecting, confirm that it was, in fact, that person who sent the files.
• Be careful when clicking on links included in emails from unknown senders.
• Avoid using your email account from public networks such as airports, restaurants or convention centers.
• Never respond or send messages received in your junk mail or spam folder
• Use the BCC or CCO feature to send messages to multiple recipients.
• Always use secure passwords to access your email accounts.
• Change the password at least every 90 days.
• Carefully read emails that ask for personal or sensitive information and that are received from unknown sources.

• Normally around gift-giving holidays, people receive unbeatable gift offers through email, text messages and social media. That is why it is important to verify the authenticity of such offer before making a deposit or purchase.
• Avoid entering any personal information into unknown forms or web pages in order to prevent phishing attacks.

Fraud committed via telephone with fake calls is a constant occurrence nowadays; therefore, if you receive a call with the following characteristics:

• Asking you to confirm personal information like name, address, Tax Registration Number (RFC) or Unique Population Registry Key (CURP).
• Asking you to confirm confidential information of your account or credit card; such as PIN number, password, security codes or Token codes.
• Informing you, through a recording or alleged telephone operator, that your credit card was misused.
• Cancellation of subscriptions or services that you don’t even remember having.

We recommend you do the following:

• Do not provide personal information without first confirming with your bank.
• Financial institutions do not ask for confidential information such as your credit card or PIN number.
• If you receive a call indicating that your credit card was misused, it is important to contact your financial institution using the official phone number to verify the claim.
• When you receive calls telling you that a subscription or service has been cancelled, the right thing to do would be to match this information with your official account statement and contact the bank to clarify such situation.

• Text messages that are received on your cell phone or through instant messaging contain links to fake telephone numbers, therefore it is important to verify such information with your institution’s official web page to avoid walking right into the trap.
• If you receive a text message telling you your credit card has been disabled and then provides you with a phone number to call in order to begin the reactivation process, you should call the telephone number that is printed on the contract or that is found on the institution’s official webpage in order to verify such information.

• Avoid clicking on suspicious links that come from an unknown sender or that forward you to a website. These may arrive through an email account, text message or instant messaging.

• When you enter a bank portal or any website where you are going to enter private information, it is important to verify that the link begins with https:// and that the page has a certificate (depending on the web browser, it appears like a lock)
• Do not google and click directly on the first websites that appears at the top of the search engine. When you wish to access a bank portal, we suggest you enter the name of the webpage manually and once you verify the veracity of the portal, add it to your list of favorites.
• On various WEB platforms, in order to obtain information, access or services, it is necessary to enter an email account as a required step.

Some WEB platforms do not anticipate that the information that is entered may be compromised and shared with people who will make bad use of it.

Therefore, we suggest taking the following protection measures into consideration:

• Open an email account that will be used just for this purpose, to help you register and open accounts in these types of webpages.
• We highly recommend NOT providing a work email as reference.
• Avoid registering friends, contacts, clients or co-workers as references to receive the offers in question.

What is a computer virus?

• A computer virus is a software whose purpose is to alter the normal functioning of any type of computing device without the knowledge or permission of the user mainly with malicious intent over such device. Viruses normally replace executable files for others that are infected with the code of such file. Viruses can intentionally destroy data that is stored on a computer.

What is an antivirus?

• Computer antiviruses are software programs whose purpose is to detect and eliminate computer viruses. Installing updated antiviruses significantly reduces the chances of your device being damaged by computer viruses.

What is malware?

• Malware, also called malicious software, makes reference to any type of software that tries to interfere with the functioning of a computer or a cell phone. It is considered to be a type of damaging software aimed at accessing a device without the user’s consent.
• A malware is catalogued as a malicious program according to the effects it provokes on a computer. It is not the same as “defective software”, which are programs that contain dangerous errors, but they are not intentional.
• Many malwares operate without the user even being aware in order to extract information from the infected computer, it remotely takes control over such device and in many cases, accesses information of sensitive nature.

What is an antimalware?

• An antimalware is a type of program designed to prevent, detect and rid individual computer devices and IT systems of any malicious software. The terms antivirus and antimalware are often used interchangeably as computer viruses are a specific type of malware. Therefore, an antivirus and an antimalware refer practically to the same thing.

What is SPAM?

• The terms junk mail, spam and junk message refer to unsolicited or unwanted messages or that come from unknown senders (or are even sent anonymously or by a false sender). These are normally advertising type adds, are generally sent in bulk (or even massive) and damage the recipient in one or several ways.

What is an antispam?

• These are programs that work together with antivirus and antimalware to detect and block SPAM type emails.

• These are devices and programs that work to prevent cyberattacks against computer infrastructure, maintaining a high level of security for legitimate operations.