November is here and it’s important to remember some of the ways cybercriminals can make YOU their target. This month hosts three major events: the 2020 election, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. The best practices to ensure your cybersecurity posture stands its ground begins with identifying the threats and taking action.
The Election
As Election Day grows nearer, threat actors continue to exploit the election not necessarily to steal votes, but to steal your personal information. Be leery of email, text messages, and social media posts.
Phishing Attacks / Social Engineering - Cybercriminals leverage personally identifiable information from data breaches as well as information found on the internet from data broker websites or social media profiles that are publicly available to target individuals on a greater scale. They may pretend to be a political action committee, fundraiser, pollster, voter registration drive, etc.
What You Can Do
Do not engage with any questionable emails, text messages, or phone calls. Block and report any activity directly within the email and text message applications. If you’re unsure about the legitimacy of a communication, contact BlackCloak.
Lock down your social media accounts by limiting who can see your account and add dual factor authentication to your accounts. Be cautious of direct messages and links in social media posts.
Fake Websites & Malicious Ads - Cybercriminals will spin up fake campaign and voting websites as well as pop-up advertisements in order to steal your information or download malware to your devices.
What You Can Do
Be careful what websites you visit and which ads you click on when browsing the internet or scrolling through your social media feeds.
Ensure your mobile devices and computers have advanced malware protection software installed on them.
Black Friday / Cyber Monday
As we approach the holiday season, some of the most popular shopping days occur this month. Consumers and cybercriminals take equal advantage, and given that we’re in a pandemic, most shopping will occur online. You will see deals being advertised all over the internet. Arguably, one of the most popular platforms used to showcase these deals is via social media. This year, we hope you snag some deals, but do so in a safe and secure manner.
More Fake Websites & Malicious Links/Ads - It’s really easy to spin up websites, and advertisers make it really inexpensive to display ads to the masses. Therefore, as with the election, cybercriminals will be using ads and websites to display fake deals in hopes to collect your personal and payment card information.
What You Can Do
Go directly to the retailer’s website to shop, don’t click on links or ads served up to you in text messages, direct messages via social media, emails or advertisements.
Use a credit card for your online purchase. DON’T PAY with a debit card.
Elevate the security of your accounts (bank, email, social media, etc.) by enabling two factor authentication.
Please contact BlackCloak if you suspect you have received any of the threats described above or would like any implementation assistance, as we are more than happy to step in.
As always, the BLACKCLOAK Team is here to help. If you have any questions, email us at ask@blackcloak.io.
Thanks!
The BLACKCLOAK Team
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