Beware the Curly Spider

Anybody scared of spiders?

Arachnophobia (check me out!) is high up on the list of the Top 10 things that people are scared of and accounts for between 3-15% of the total population (according to my AI sources).

Very few spiders on the planet will hurt humans and there are only a small number of deaths recorded or attributed to spider bites across the planet.

They all have cool names like ‘Funnel-web,’ ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Tarantula.’ And even though some of these could hurt you – it is generally short-lived pain, and most people will survive with no real lasting damage done.

I think it is mostly to do with what spiders look like that scare people. Especially when you watch a nature program or if you ever see a close-up of one.

The other reality is that we all probably have spiders in our homes, and we never really see them.

So they are a persistent threat if you don’t like them.

But surely, what you can’t see – can’t scare or hurt you!?

When we do detect them – if you don’t like them – they are easily dealt with by using a piece of paper and a glass or by picking them up and gently releasing them into the wild (to find out that they made it back in before you knew it!). So occasionally you may have to interact with them.

Our cat chases them and eats them, but we have little control of that.

Three very scary spiders that you can’t see but can seriously hurt you are called ‘Curly Spider,’ ‘Chatty Spider’ and ‘Plump Spider.’

In these cases, the ‘Spider’ is not an eight-legged creepy crawly but an organised crime cyber threat actor.

You may interact with these spiders but believe them to be on your side however the hurt they can cause can be terrible and life-changing.

All of these Spiders are out for your money and will attack you in a variety of ways.

Curly Spider bombards you with spam email and then contacts you pretending to be IT support to trick you into starting a remote session with them in order for them to ‘help’ you. The reality is that they are not helping at all and go about installing backdoor software which allows them access to your computer, or they pass it onto another baddy (aptly called ‘Wandering Spider’).

Chatty Spider – likes to chat. And will use emails and phone calls (vishing) to get you to start a remote access session and then installs their malicious software in the background. This will hurt you eventually.

Plump Spider also likes to call you. It feeds on all of the credentials and other data that it steals from your system and uses for crimes such as fraud and extortion.

All of these spiders spin a web of nastiness and even David Attenborough would stamp on it if he found one.

No humane glass and paper removal for these bad guys.

Once they are in – they are difficult to get rid of. So protection and prevention are the cure.

This includes being aware of their existence and being suspicious at the point of entry. Having up-to-date anti-malware systems and removing unnecessary applications and services also helps.

The world of cyber threat intelligence, especially trying to keep up with the tactics, techniques and procedures of threat actors is intriguing. It is also ongoing and sometimes scary.

Defending, responding, prevention and protection are the names of the game.

Anybody involved in cybersecurity is involved in these activities.

Keeping in touch with world events, criminal activity, new technologies and most importantly, human behaviour is all part of the cybersecurity skillset.

It’s also very important for cyber nerds to be able to communicate with real people who need to know what’s going on. Awareness is a huge part of the defence of an organisation.

Knowing that a tarantula won’t hurt you is useful. But knowing about the Curly Spider and its friends is essential.

Stay safe and prosper!