I don’t scan each and every QR code I stumble upon every day, and neither should you, especially if it has anything to do with Cryptocurrency.
If you have used the internet, the number one safety rule is ‘don’t click on random links’, well, a QR code is a link.
Ok not really, a QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that is readable by a smartphone with a camera or a mobile device with a similar type of visual scanning technology. It allows the encoded image to contain over 4,000 characters in a condensed, machine-readable format typically used for storing URLs.
If you wouldn’t click on random links in your email inbox, you also shouldn’t go scanning random QR codes.
QR codes are not a cybersecurity risk, the risk is in the content itself that has been generated and potentially displayed for an unsuspecting user to scan. Once they do, it can be the prelude to an attack, think the most rampant phishing.
And this is just scratching the surface of what QR codes can do, they can install apps on your phone, share your location, share WIFI credentials, write and send emails or texts, and a lot more.
Stay Safe on the Interwebs, scan the QR code below.
