Black Friday: Cybersecurity Tips

Black Friday is today the most profitable day of the year for both sellers and buyers.

For some companies, sales made during the single day can cover up to 30% of annual turnover.

While for those who buy and decide to start the race for Christmas gifts the savings reach up to 70%.

However, this data corresponds to strong increases in cyber attacks, breaches and money losses that target both consumers and businesses.

Nearly 70% of consumers said they were concerned aboutthe theft of their personal data as a result of online purchases.

Last year, Amazon told its customers that it had received an IT attack a few hours before the Start of Black Friday discounts.

Even Macy's, famous department store chain of having received a devastating hack that gave criminals access to thousands of credit card numbers.

Tips for buying safely online during Black Friday

Fake websites, coupons, and sales ads do act as bait to attract unprepared consumers.

Many cybercriminals create ransomware websites and apps to peddle fake coupons or forms by demanding consumer information in exchange for discounts.

The number one rule when buying online is that deals that seemed too good to be true, probably aren't!

Any link you click from an email should be double-checked in a browser to make sure it doesn't come from a randsomware website.

Before buying online, you should look for SSL certificates on sites to make sure they are legitimate.

In fact, many people are hacked during purchases made through smartphones or on public Wi-Fi networks.

Using VPN services to encrypt your internet connection ensures the security of your transactions and the preservation of sensitive data.

Things to watch out for secure online shopping

Despite the fact that tomorrow is the start day of Black Friday, cybersecurity experts have already detected an increase in the volume of phishing emails from major delivery services such as DPD, Royal Mail, Hermes, DHL and Royal Mail.

Things to watch out for include:

• spelling errors;
• urgency in the messaging to be purchased;
• incorrect logos and trademarks;
• URLs that look suspiciously long.

How to protect your e-commerce from cyber attacks

The most common type of attack that affects sellers involves transactions made with a non-existent credit card.

Cyber criminals use stolen credit card numbers to buy prepaid gift cards, as well as point-of-sale malware,web application vulnerabilities, and more.

In this case, companies must perform comprehensive audits and to eradicate access points that IT criminals can use to breach systems.

For example, migrating data to protect infrastructure and encrypt point of sale systems, card systems and processors.

For more information on cybersecurity you can consult our article "Cybersecurity: why is it important?"