Phishing you Happy Holidays!

How to Spot Scams and Keep Your Data Safe This Holiday

The holiday season is, for many a time to rest and enjoy their friends and families as well as some good food. For scammers, it’s the most fruitful time of the year. Why, you may ask?

Well, there are several reasons for this. The first and most obvious is that this is the season of giving, and people tend to spend quite a lot of money on gifts for their loved ones. The season starts way before Black Friday or Cyber Monday. According to the National Retail Federation´s latest consumer survey, this Christmas is expected to reach a record average of $902 per person across gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items.

As expected, most holiday shopping is done online nowadays. According to a recent survey, 44% of shoppers expect to do more than half of their shopping online in 2024. The aforementioned gold mines for both shoppers and holiday scammers, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the specific days that most people plan to do their holiday shopping; just over half of those surveyed (53%) are concerned about being scammed. Interestingly, according to the survey, the majority of people fall victim to online shopping scams and phishing scams ahead of other types.

But people´s spending on gifts is not the only reason. People are also increasingly charitable, making them more susceptible to falling for scams while acting in good faith, being generous of spirit, and unfortunately less cautious when it comes to falling victim to social engineering scams.

Unwrapping holiday phishing

Phishing continues to evolve; in 2024 it has become more intricate and challenging to identify. Phishing attempts continue to increase in sophistication and are no longer generic emails with poor grammar, even amongst smaller language groups. Attackers are leveraging social engineering tactics as well as many new available technologies. Thanks to large language models (LLMs) and AI, cybercriminals are able to produce and distribute convincing phishing communications. The replicated human writing style raises the messages credibility and enhances the probability of success.

While, a lot of email servers have built in systems to recognize suspicious emails, however with the use of sophisticated tools, cybercriminals are often able to bypass these. These tools are also able to “write” these messages a lot faster, with a lot more personal detail and fewer grammatical errors than a human ever could.

All of this is especially dangerous before and during big Holidays. A research piece by Barracuda Networks shows that spear-phishing attacks spike by more than 150% the week leading up to Christmas.

Spread Christmas cheer, not cyber-fear

Here comes the question, whether awareness is enough to protect oneself against phishing attacks. A more secure way is to opt for a security solution with proper anti-phishing features.

Protecting your personal information and devices from these sophisticated attacks is crucial, and ESET Mobile Security is here to do just that.

With ESET Mobile Security, you get an all-in-one tool to safeguard against holiday phishing threats. Its Link Scanner feature is an additional layer of protection. If the user receives a phishing link in a message or an app and opens it, the link is redirected to the EMS app where it is checked, ensuring you don’t get tricked by fraudulent emails or messages.

The Anti-Phishing feature actively detects and blocks malicious websites, giving you peace of mind as you shop or browse. Plus, its Web Protection layer provides comprehensive safety, shielding you from phishing or fraudulent websites that could ruin your holiday cheer.

This Holiday season don’t let cybercriminals ruin your cheer. Equip yourself with ESET Mobile Security and enjoy a secure, scam-free holiday season!