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“In the festive period, user awareness decreases due to time constraints and general feelings of stress, distraction, or fatigue, making this the perfect time for cybercriminals to prey on victims. As a result, December is one of the most active months of the year for online scams, especially given the increase of online shopping during the festive season.

In such circumstances, it’s important for businesses and consumers alike to realise that cybercriminals understand their behaviour patterns, and frequently change their tactics in line with the calendar. Christmas is no exception. It is not uncommon for bad actors to use popular names such as Amazon, eBay or Apple in their phishing emails to target many people in one campaign. Cybercriminals know which products are trending, and they actively try to include star products’ names such ’iPhone 14’ in their subject lines to successfully impersonate brands as part of their scams.

Our recommendation is that everyone remain cautious when exploring all emails, links and attachments received, especially during the Christmas season, and remember that if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Similarly, businesses and IT leaders should be aware of these risks too and consider analysing companies’ email filtering technologies and multi factor authentication methods (MFA) to ensure they’re fit for purpose. Also, by conducting context-relevant security awareness training combined with phishing simulations for all staff and investing in real time phishing detection, businesses will be strengthening their frontline defences against potential attacks and building cyber resilience, whilst helping employees to avoid falling victim to common scams."