Don't Let Cyber Criminals Steal Your Holiday Spirit

The biggest shopping day of the year is coming: Black Friday. Criminals are likely to follow the money and take advantage of unsuspecting shoppers. With the number of people turning to online shopping increasing each year, one of the places thieves may be lurking is your inbox.

Beware of Suspicious Emails 

Cyber criminals often play on our fears and try to scare us out of our money. Links and attachments delivering malware or phishing scams trying to gain your login credentials are a huge threat and they often use a hook to lure us. Some common tactics include but are not limited to:

• Emails that appear to be from your credit card company asking questions about a suspicious transaction with the goal of gaining your account number.
• Emails that appear to be from your bank alerting you that your account has been frozen for security reasons in order to get private account information.
• Emails that appear to be from online retail websites that include fake shipping invoices in the hopes that you will click on the link and their malware can make its way onto your computer system.

Tips for Suspicious Emails 

Don’t let the stress of the holiday season get in the way of your thinking. Cyber criminals want you to give into your initial panic upon receiving their email and respond without thinking.  Be mindful so that you can protect yourself and your family by following these simple rules:

• Never click on any link or email attachment that you are not expecting.
• Keep your software up to date.
• Make sure you turn off the option to automatically download attachments.
• Don’t ever feel forced to make a decision on the spot, when someone has used scare tactics.

Cyber Extortion is also a serious threat. The latest scam entails a cyber criminal calling with a caller id that identifies them as your bank.  The thieves have sent a convincing e-mail instructing you to click on a link that allows them to hack into your bank account. Their last step is to inform you that you will be getting an email with a 4 digit code which has actually been generated by your bank which they want you to give them. If you get any calls that are similar to this, end the call and call your financial institution. Typically, large national banks will never ask for confidential information over the phone, such as user names, passwords or PIN numbers sent via e-mail or text.

Cyber Insurance Products 

A number of the carriers we work with have cyber security insurance products. We invite you to give us a call with any questions you may have about your cyber insurance coverage options. We look forward to speaking with you.

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This article is for general informational purposes only and is not to be relied upon or used for any particular purpose. Cross Insurance shall not be held responsible in any way for, and specifically disclaims any liability arising out of or in any way connected to, reliance on or use of any of the information contained in this article. The information contained or referenced in this article is not intended to constitute and should not be considered legal, insurance, accounting or other professional advice, nor shall it serve as a substitute for the recipient obtaining such advice. The views expressed in this article are that of its author and do not necessarily represent the views of Cross Financial Corp. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (“Cross Insurance”) or Cross Insurance’s management or shareholders.