During the holiday season, which begins informally with the so-called Black Friday event, it is estimated an increase in phishing attacks. More research from previous years, conducted by Kaspersky Lab specialists, shows that holiday period was marked by increasing phishing and other types of attacks, which means that this year will be no exception.
A seasonal peak in sales is obviously one of intense activity and for cybercriminals: retailers have refused several offers hard, and users will spend money on gifts for themselves, but also for friends and relatives. So, while customers of e-commerce put their desires for reductions that follows, retailers are preparing for massive increases in the number of visitors and keepers financial infrastructure - banks and payment systems - are preparing for large increases in the number and value of transactions , cybercriminals make their own preparations. Or at least, that was happened in previous years.
According to Kaspersky Lab statistics, in 2014 and 2015, the proportion of phishing pages which hunts financial data (card information) detected by the company in Q4 (which covers the holiday season) was approximately 9% higher than in the rest of the year. Specifically, the overall result recorded in the 2014 financial phishing shares was 28.73%, while in Q4 the percentage was 38.49%. If 2015 34.33% of all financial phishing attacks were, they figure recorded in Q4 was 43.38% of the total.
The celebrations influence the type of financial targets that we have criminals. And in 2014 and 2015, Kaspersky Lab researchers observed a significant increase (a few percentage points) phishing attacks against payment systems and online stores. Also, they increased attacks against banks, but less.
When trying to steal payment data, criminals use various methods: it is possible to create a fake website of a payment system popular to copy websites of online retailers legitimate or even create stores fake 100%, with offers incredible good.
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Of course, criminals take advantage of the very idea of Black Friday. In October 2016 while studying the latest threats, Kaspersky Lab researchers have detected a fake online store, themed Black Friday and products at attractive prices. This means that criminals are already preparing with good weeks before the start of the sales season holidays.
"In 2014, I did more research about how unfolds phishing attacks during the Christmas period and found that the number of attacks against certain targets - payment systems and chains popular merchants - grow around Black Friday or Cyber Monday . In 2015, the scenario was repeated, which leads us to believe that 2016 will be no exception. Therefore, we recommend users to be as cautious when shopping online during this period, "said Andrey Kostin, Senior Web Content Analyst at Kaspersky Lab.
To avoid phishing actions during the holidays, starting with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and continue for Christmas Kaspersky Lab experts recommend the following measures:
• Do not click on links from strangers or suspicious links sent from friends via social networking sites or email. Links can be infected, designed to download malware onto their device and may lead to phishing pages created to collect data identifying the user.
• Do not enter your card data on unknown or suspicious websites to prevent them from reaching the hands of cybercriminals. If these sites have great deals that look too good to be true, most likely belonging to cyber criminals.
• Always make sure that the website is authentic before you enter the credentials or confidential data (look, at least, the URL). Fake sites might look just like real ones.
• Install device security solution that includes technologies designed to prevent financial fraud. For example, Safe Money technology from Kaspersky Lab solutions create a secure environment for financial transactions.
Phishing is one of the most common cyber threats that users may face reductions during the holidays, but not the only one. Read more about other threats to customers, traders and banks that may arise in the coming period, in the article on Securelist.
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