Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year – not just for children, retailers and pantomime stars, but for cybercriminals too. With it being a time when people are both spending more money online, but also rushing around with much on their minds, it provides a fertile environment for criminals to strike.
In fact, cybersecurity firm Darktrace found the number of attempted ransomware attacks to be 70% higher in November and December than in January and February. The issue is getting worse, with reported attacks increasing by 30% every year between 2018 and 2020.
As such, consumers and businesses alike are advised to exercise even greater caution than usual as cybercriminals seek to give them a very blue Christmas.
Phishing emails are among the most prevalent at this time of year. Typically taking the form of notifications that a parcel hasn’t been delivered, that a payment hasn’t gone through, or a refund issued, these scams rely on the knowledge that more people will have spent money in recent days and are likely expecting a delivery.
As with many scams, the so-called ‘human firewall’ is the best line of defence, with intuition and a good helping of suspicion often the difference between falling victim or not.
Regardless of the time of year, the advice remains the same: check the sender’s email address; look out for red flags in the content (generic personalisation, spelling errors etc.); and avoid clicking any links. If the email appears to have come from a friend, reach out to them using a different medium to double check its legitimacy.
Online shopping also poses a risk, with hackers seeking to take over retail websites – be it to issue a ransom or even divert online payments. Before entering any personal details, always double check the URL to ensure there are no cleverly hidden spelling changes and that it has the https security certification.
As Minutehack notes: “Staying informed and maintaining a strong security posture are key to mitigating the increased cyber threats that often accompany the holiday period.”
