QR code phishing and how to avoid it
We’ve all seen QR codes before: those little square barcodes, typically black and white, that you find just about everywhere nowadays. But what are they?
Originally, QR codes were just labels for physical items. In the 1990s, the Japanese auto industry started using them to keep track of vehicles and components during the manufacturing process. But because QR codes are machine-readable and can store a lot of information, they were later adopted as a way to send data to a smartphone.
The type of data contained in a QR code can vary, but typically it’s just going to be a link to a website. On iOS, your Camera app will automatically detect QR codes. When you point your iPhone’s camera at one, you’re shown an option to open the linked URL in the default web browser.
More than anything else, that’s what you need to remember about QR codes: They’re usually nothing more than simple web links. And as we’ll see, this has serious implications for cybersecurity.
(If you’re curious about what all of the different squares in a QR code actually mean, this video does a great job of explaining it)
Retiree News 
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