Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, joins "CBS Mornings" to discuss his new Masterclass and share ways people can protect themselves from online scams, identity theft and deepfakes.

Seattle

Cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs, former head of the U.S. government's cybersecurity agency, discussed the growing risks of cybercrime and identity theft, emphasizing that everyone faces digital threats due to increased reliance on technology. Krebs highlighted the importance of developing a personal threat model, using robust single-use passwords, employing password managers, and enabling multi-factor authentication to strengthen online security.

He also advised using click-to-pay methods over tap-to-pay to prevent card skimming, avoiding the use of personal voice greetings on voicemail to reduce the risk of deepfake scams, and promptly updating devices to patch security vulnerabilities. Krebs's guidance is part of a new MasterClass, "Cyber Warfare: The Front Lines is You," which aims to educate the public on practical steps to protect themselves from evolving cyber threats.

How to protect yourself from scams and identity theft

Did you know your personal data is more at risk than ever before? It's true. The FBI says it receives more than 2,300 reports of cybercrimes every single day, and that number probably barely scratches the surface of the problem, and the problem is real and huge. A new masterclass that's called Cyber Warfare, The Front Lines, is you, shares tips for protecting you and your family from online scams, deep fakes, and identity theft. It's presented by CBS News contributor Chris Krebs, who knows what he's talking about. He's former head of the U.S. government's cybersecurity agency, and joins us with all good information. Chris, because I watched the doc and I thought, God, I'm doing everything wrong. Everything wrong. So I'm really glad you're here. You said the U.S. is more digitally dependent than any other country in the world, and yet we are also the most vulnerable, but all of us could play a role in making things safer. Every single person. That's absolutely right. I mean, think about your home. Yeah. Think about your car. Think about what you're carrying right now on your person. Everyone's got some digital risk, some digital dependency, and as every holiday season goes by and you bring more smart things in your home, it's only getting to be a bigger attack surface for bad guys. And there are more bad guys too, because they want to take advantage of American prosperity. So how do people get their house in order if they have a little time this holiday weekend? What do they do? Well, start with yourself. And one of the things we talk about in the class is developing a personal threat model. And it's a lot simpler than it sounds, but it's figure out what's important to you. What's the most important digital aspect of your life? It's probably your email, your phone, your financial accounts, your bank accounts. So think about what you need to do to protect those, and it's all about robust single-use passwords. And if you can, what I really like doing and recommending is use a password manager. It's a great gift. Password manager. What is that? And also multi-factor authentication. We can talk about both of these things. So a password manager is something you can put on your phone, and sometimes it's even in the browser you use, whether it's Chrome or Edge or whatever. And what they do is they store down, they can generate passwords for each account, unique accounts you've never used before, and they'll store it either in the manager or in the browser. And it just makes it so that you're not using a password snowball, one, two, three, over and over. It may not be my father-in-law's account, but nonetheless, these are the sorts of things you have to be able to do to make sure you're a harder target to keep criminals at bay. You also say it's important to do click-to-pay, not tap-to-pay. Why does that make a difference? So the tap-to-pay is that chip in your credit card. It's always broadcasting. So what you've seen is that folks can come by and skim your back pocket and grab that code. So the click-to-pay is the Apple Pay or whatever on your phone, two clicks, face ID recognition, and then you tap the side. You initiate the payment super quick, and it makes sure that that card can't get cloned and reused over and over. All right, so what about deepfakes? Because when I hear deepfakes, I think about Mission Impossible. I'm like, I don't think that's going to happen, whether it's voice recordings or actual video of you or someone else that you love. But how do you prepare yourself for that? Because it is real. It's absolutely real, and we talk about that in the class, about how you need to be careful not to answer spam calls, because it only takes about 10 to 15 seconds of your voice to be cloned by an AI generator that can then be used to mimic you. So the spam calls that call you and it's silent for a second, and you're sitting there saying, hello? Not every time, but yes. Yeah. So be aware of those. How about the lady that says, we've been processing your loan. It's sitting on my desk. We've been trying to reach you, dah, dah, dah. Once you answer that, they've got you, right? That could be happening there. Also, look, they just want your money there. But another thing you can do is use the default setting on your voicemail. So you're not using your own voice on your voicemail, because that can get scraped, get tied together, and then be generated. You guys are putting a lot of daily content out there. That is true. So y'all are pretty much in trouble here. Your class also says that if ever there's a time, if ever you're told update your device, you should. I always say later, because it seems to me any time you update, there's a problem. You said it's very important to always update when they put it out to you. Why? Well, because what happens is they discover vulnerabilities in the software on your phone or on your operating system on your computer at home, and a bad guy's figured it out, and it knows how to exploit it. Look, these companies, Microsoft, Apple, Google, they don't love pushing out these updates. They do it because it's important, because it's a safety and security issue. Here's the deal, though. All of our devices, they're making it easier to update. So you go to sleep, and it'll update overnight. For sure. Your operating system on your phone can update overnight. Your car, same thing, right? That's true. All these over-the-air updates for cars. Hacking, you say, is big business. Hackers are not who you think they are, because you picture these guys in hoods. It's people who are just trying to get the Brooklyn soccer mom, you said. One person can make a huge difference. That's an old stereotype, unfortunately, the hoodies and all that. Now, I think the hacking community and the cybersecurity community has leaned into the hoodie thing. But look, there's so many opportunities for people to get in there and take your money, get into your accounts, that everywhere across the world, the barriers to entry are so low. So there's so many people that are looking to do this. There really are few repercussions for that person that's sitting there in Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia or whatever. It's great to have you here. You are who I call when I screw up online. Yeah, I wasn't going to say it, Tony, but you are my call. Don't tell me to watch the MasterClass, all right? I'm still going to call you. You should watch the class. The timing's perfect. You should watch the class, yes. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, sign up. We thank you. The MasterClass Cyber Warfare, it's an hour and 39 minutes, and it's worth your time. The front line is now available tomorrow on MasterClass.com.

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