Cyber attacks never stop and, according to Check Point Research, Valentine’s Day would be the perfect day. Let’s find out why
Cyber attacks are now commonplace on the Internet. Any particular party or event is always a good reason for hackers to try to break into our PCs as well steal sensitive data or worse. Valentine’s Day, second Check Point Research (CPR), is no exception. Let’s find out why we should be very careful about the various scams that are raging in this period.
Here are some possible Valentine’s Day cyberattacks detected by Check Point Research
Looking for an alternative method to celebrate Valentine’s Day, especially during this particular period, is a great way to expose yourself to attacks from cyber criminals. According to some CPR studies, in fact, there was a surge in phishing campaigns in the second half of January, with over 400 emails per week of phishing malevole a tema San Valentino.
Most of these scams are based on the buyer fraud and in some cases they re-use themes and web pages from old phishing campaigns. One of these is the use of the Pandora brand already the subject of these frauds on the occasion of Black Friday. The link included links to a fake Pandora webpage, which mimics the look of the site in all respects.
So how can you recognize these phising campaigns? The first step is obviously to check the email address from which the email came. Obviously, the name of the account holder will be changed ad hoc, but fortunately the shipping address cannot be changed. However, in case you have already clicked, you will find some small details that will make you guess the fraud.
As highlighted in the photo above, the first difference comes from the reported year. In fact, you will find at the bottom of the page “2020 Pandora Official Site” and not 2021. Another difference lies in the address of the company which is written in lowercase “northern lakes lane, laurel, md, 20723”. They are small details, but they are very important to make you understand that this site is nothing but a fake.
Peak of “Valentine’s Day” themed domains
Throughout January, Check Point Research observed a peak in the number of new Valentine-themed domains registered. Out of 23,000 new domains, 0.5% was found to be malicious (115 domains) and 1.8% suspicious (414). Although they may seem very few, the noted increase in these domains registered in January is even 29% compared to the previous year.
Here it is some advices to avoid falling victim to these fraud attempts:
- Make sure you are ordering online from a genuine source. One method may be to never click on promotional links in emails, but to search for the desired reseller through a search engine.
- Never use your credentials. One of the main objectives of these attacks is precisely the theft of credentials. To avoid this it is recommended to use different credentials each time and not the same for each account.
- Always be wary of password reset emails. If you receive an unsolicited password reset email, please do not click on the link. This way you could be redirected to a fake landing page to reset that account’s password. In this way the attackers will be able to steal the desired credentials.
- Always observe the language of the email. Social engineering techniques are designed to exploit human nature and the fact that people are more likely to make mistakes when they are in a rush. Phishing attacks commonly use these techniques and tones of urgency to get you to ignore your potential suspects on an email.
- Beware of offers that are too “special”. Discounts too high on latest generation IT and / or electronic products NON they are real opportunities.
- Beware of similar domains, misspellings in emails or websites, and unknown email senders (as in the example of Pandora).
Although there are many programs that prevent credential theft, the main security is ourselves! In fact, these small tricks can help us from all the bad guys who undermine our integrity every day. Do you already follow these tips? Let us know yours in the comments. In order not to miss further news regarding the software universe, keep following the pages of techgameworld.com!