Taking advantage of Black Friday deals?1 min read

Taking advantage of Black Friday deals? Don’t let cyber attackers take advantage of you!

The holiday season is a great time to enjoy time with loved ones, exchanging – and receiving – gifts and much more. But it’s also a great time for cyber criminals to attack businesses. According to VMWare’s Carbon Black Threat Analysis Unit, there was an increase of over 50% in attempted cyberattacks during the 2017 holiday season. Between increased online traffic to popular websites and customers looking for the best deals on gifts and large purchases, it is easy to unknowingly make your personal information and payment details vulnerable.

While organisations should be doing their part to keep your data protected, there are a few steps you can also take to improve the security of your data.

• Do not blindly trust emails you were not expecting – these will sometimes contain phishing links that will ask you to enter sensitive information.
• If you are expecting a package to be delivered, make sure your tracking email is legitimate. If you’re not sure, do not click on the link within the email. Instead, visit the website and enter in your tracking code manually.
• Ensure that you are visiting legitimate, trusted websites – if you’ve found a deal on a big purchase that seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Even these small suggestions could keep your data safe this holiday season. A little peace of mind goes a long way to enjoying the holidays with family and friends – so let’s keep the cyber attackers at bay!