Reduce the risks of cyber-attacks during Black Friday & Cyber Monday
Joe and Izzy couldn’t wait for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They’d been planning what they were going to get for weeks. It was going to be the perfect start to the Christmas period and their next bonanza!
It was simple to design their best online targets – to be the first to the gifts awaiting them. Sadly, for many people, Joe and Izzy were going to ruin their own plans. They were part of a well-organised criminal gang who were planning multiple cyber-attacks targeting the public at a time when many of us are more vulnerable than usual by chasing the ‘best online deal around’.
Remaining vigilant
This year we are all particularly vulnerable for two reasons. First, many retailers will be looking to offer even bigger and better bargains to recover lost revenues from the 2020 lockdown. Then, as we adapt to the national lockdown restrictions and the new working environment that most of us find ourselves in, we need to be particularly vigilant. Our guard will likely be down at home as we browse for the best deals, often on work laptops.
On the run-up to Black Friday in 2019, Check Point reported that phishing emails increased by 233%. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) recent research found that 37% of people think that losing money or personal details over the internet is unavoidable. These two stats suggest Joe and Izzy will have another bumper year in 2020!
Awareness training for your employees
Yet there are some simple things that we can all do to protect ourselves during Black Friday and Cyber Monday at the end of November.
As an employer, it could be a good idea at this time of year to provide some simple engaging and immersive reminders for what your employees need to be aware of and do on the run-up to the biggest online shopping spree we’ll ever see. This includes:
- Encouraging the speedy reporting of what are suspicious emails and requests
- Offering highly targeted, short awareness reminders, little and often
- Sharing Black Friday and Cyber Monday stories amongst your employees
Remember, effective awareness training campaigns can go a long way to reduce the risk of you managing the damaging consequences of a cyber-attack.
That said, here are 4 simple steps you and your employees can all take to safely enjoy the bargains available:
1. Stop, think and be safe
Look out for simple giveaways of phishing scams targeting you with offers too good to be true. For example, if it refers to you as a ‘valued customer’ or ‘friend’, many will have poor spelling, grammar or punctuation. Check the sender’s name and URL – does it sound legitimate or are they trying to mimic someone or a retailer you know?
2. Don’t give away too much information
Online retailers will need your address and your bank details, but don’t provide any further information not required for your purchase. If you can avoid it, don’t create an account on a new site unless you’re definitely going to use that site again in the future.
3. Use strong passwords
The best way to create a strong but also memorable password that will be extremely difficult to hack is to use three random words with numbers. So, for example, nanpotstar91.
4. Stay up to date
Make sure you install the latest software and app updates to combat ever-evolving cyber-attacks.
Let’s work together to make sure Joe and Izzy don’t have the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Christmas they’d planned.
Access Cyber Awareness and Resilience training can help you build secure employee behaviours, at home and in the workplace. We provide practical, short and engaging, campaign based online training certified by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Find out more our Cyber Awareness Training.
