‘Tis the Season for Cyber Scams: Raising Awareness of Well-Timed Phishing Attacks

By contrast, if this phishing email had landed in Joe’s inbox when he was at the office and had no travel plans, he would immediately have suspected that he was the target of a phishing scam. More than 3 billion phishing emails are sent every day. Moreover, recent massive cyberattacks resulted in the theft of significant data from large telecoms, banks, transportation companies, and government agencies. As a result, phishing attacks have become increasingly personal. To protect ourselves and help security departments enjoy their holiday season a little more, it would be helpful to pay special attention to three types of schemes this holiday season. Although it may take a minute or two to perform verification for the email prior to clicking on a link, it’s time well spent given the high costs of a possible hack. So, consider making it a habit never to click on a link when you’re in a rush. Just remember to look for the tell-tale signs, and you’ll be disappointing hackers worldwide.