Holiday shopping this year is and will be more dangerous than never. Cyber security specialists warned about expected malware increase during Black Friday and Cyber Monday; however, criminals managed to surpass these expectations. During this long four-day weekend malware attacks doubled compared to other days of the year. In the United States malware infections skyrocketed up to 106%. Instead of purchasing a ridiculously cheap gadgets, a new pair of shoes or other goods, many shoppers got ransomware, Trojans, and other computer infections.
For several years specialists notice that malware activity starts increasing during Black Friday and do not stop after Cyber Monday. Actually, last year the biggest malware activity was noticed two days after Cyber Monday. However, chances to catch computer infection stay high during all holiday season. So, it’s important to be careful buying presents to your family and friends online.
During the first holiday weekend, cyber criminals tricked people by sending fake spam and commercial emails, including infected websites into search results and sending malicious links on social networks. Email inboxes have been flooded with tons of fake offers to purchase goods for a low price, special prices, and various great deals and so on. Victims received fake emails from Amazon, and other well-known retailers informing about problems with their latest orders. These misleading emails tricked people into opening attached files which is typically used to spread ransomware viruses. Criminals also used social networks for their illegal activities and sent infected links on Facebook and Twitter. Well, some crooks worked very hard and created fake websites that managed to rank quite high in Google search results.
Cyber infections are lurking everywhere, so it’s important to be extremely careful this holiday shopping season. We recommend having trust issues and not relying on each receive offer or discount coupon even if it has been sent from a popular retailer. Do not trust any emails that are sent from retailers and claiming about various problems with your order. If you need to check the status of your purchase, go straight to retailer’s website, log in and check if there’re any issues. Keep in mind that thousands of malware developers are targeting lots of computer users in Europe, the U.S.A., and other continents. So, it’s better to be careful and do not rush with last minute’s shopping.