The holiday season is a season of giving, but if your company isn’t careful, you could be giving customers malware instead of holiday cheer. While your company has been preparing for the busiest shopping season, cyber criminals have been heavily preparing as well. The holiday season is a time for them to rack in big profits, too.
Don’t let hackers spread holiday malware in your company this season by spreading awareness of the following holiday malware schemes to your employees provided by CSO Online.
- Business email compromise: Cyber criminals will create spoof emails in a bid to execute unauthorized wire transfers. In an FBI report, it was found that thieves stole nearly $750 million from more than 7,000 companies in the U.S. between 2013 and 2015.
- Tech support scams: Watch out for scammers posing as tech supporters offering refunds. They will try to offer you a refund for whatever service you bought and get you to grant them full access to your banking accounts.
- The Amazon Phish: Cyber criminals are attacking Amazon users by sending spoof Important Notice emails that require users to verify their account. The email asks for users to provide payment card information and threatens to place a hold on your account if you don’t comply.
Don’t let these malware scams into your company this holiday season. Make sure all your employees are knowledgeable on what data is considered safe and what is not. Malware attacks can hit any company, regardless of size, so it’s better for your company to be aware of any upcoming threats.
More about Malware: According to Tech Soup, Malware is a term for threats; such as viruses, spyware, adware and other software installed without a user’s consent or knowledge. It can get into your system in various ways, including infected email attachments, downloaded software and links in emails, messages or on social media websites.
Categories of Malware:
- Viruses: A kind of self-replicating software that can slow down systems and destroy or alter data.
- Spyware: Software that spies on a user’s activity to steal passwords, banking credentials and other personal data information.
- Adware: Displays pop-up ads.
- Scareware: Software that mimics legitimate anti-virus software saying your computer has been infected. It encourages users to download and pay for the fake security solutions and then infects the computer with spyware.
