On the surface, posting online reviews looks like a win-win activity. It helps both businesses we like and people who might frequent them. But although posting reviews can benefit others, it can also put us all at risk, according to new research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. It can inadvertently expose our personal connections and make us and our online friends more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
The research focuses on a particular kind of email attack called spear phishing. A bad actor impersonates someone the target user trusts. The actor tries to trick the target into sending money or disclosing confidential information, such as passwords or bank accounts.
In recent years, phishing has become big business, says Yan Leng, assistant professor of information, risk and operations management at McCombs. From 2021–2023, she reports, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received nearly 1 million complaints involving $305 million in losses.
"Social influence is a good thing," Leng says. "The problem is that network data could be leaked."
Exploiting connections
