This year’s Black Friday Internet sales are set to be the biggest in retail history, with analysts expecting them to surpass £1 billion over 24-hours. While online fraud has become increasingly common all year, the IT security product firm Kaspersky Lab is warning that the country is likely to experience a high level of cybercriminal activity over this shopping period.
David Mole, Head of Retail at Kaspersky Lab said: “It’s important to be aware that online fraud comes in many shapes and sizes. One of the most popular methods to target consumers is the use of phishing emails – targeting consumers with tailored emails with the aim to get them to click on a malicious link. These types of emails are increasingly common when money is the outcome.“
Financial phishing attacks, including phishing against banks, payment systems and e-shops accounted for 28.73% of all phishing attacks in 2014 . This is also on the rise – Q3 of 2015 saw six million times more phishing attacks than Q2 2015, according to Kaspersky Lab data.
Another threat to be aware of is financial malware – software specifically designed to steal sensitive credentials and target financial web services. This is also a high level threat – in 2014, Kaspersky Lab products detected 22.9 million attacks using financial malware, targeting 2.7 million users.
With spam, phishing and malware, going online may seem daunting, but there are things you can do to help protect yourself against these. David Mole at Kaspersky Lab says: “The Christmas period is peak for online shopping and with increased online activity, comes the potential for a rise in fraud. With financial fraud at an all-time high, consumers need to be on high alert for any indications that they may be handing over sensitive details to an unreliable source. There are however simple steps you can follow to prevent Black Friday becoming the most dangerous time of the year online.”
And meanwhile Paul Henry, IT Security Consultant to the Blancco Technology Group advised shoppers to exercise caution when purchasing through unfamiliar mobile apps or websites. He said: “Consumers should be more cautious of which mobile sites and apps they use to buy gifts. This doesn’t mean they should stop using mobile sites and apps to buy items – absolutely not. But it does mean they should ask questions, do some digging and find out what types of data are being collected and for what purposes before they make a mobile purchase.” The firm points to a recent study ‘Risky Mobile Business’, that suggests consumers are concerned their mobile security but aren’t necessarily taking the right precautions.
