Freely subscribe to our NEWSLETTER

“As with many cybercrime cases, both consumers and businesses need to take security seriously to help mitigate the risk of fraud. Consumers should be aware that cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to commit fraud and Black Friday is just one of many opportunities for them.

In previous years we have seen phishing and scam emails go out during the shopping season, enticing victims to provide credentials and card numbers on the promise of getting early or discounted deals. Basic security hygiene is always a must – keep your system up to date with security updates and patches, don’t reuse passwords, don’t use easy to guess passwords and opt in for 2 factor authentication (2FA), but most importantly – remain vigilant and don’t click/download/reply to anything that seems even mildly suspicious. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Businesses have responsibility here as well. Aside from making sure their systems are properly secured and prepared for attacks (such as credential stuffing) they need to offer consumers additional security features such as opting in for 2FA and alerting on suspicious account activity. In addition, organisations must utilise threat intelligence to understand if cybercriminals are targeting them and selling their customer data and credentials, and use it to identifying potential attack vectors used by threat actors.”