Technology

Watch Out – Hackers are Targeting Consumers with Phishing Attacks this Amazon Prime Day

13th October 2020
Yash

Prime Day 2020 is just as much of an opportunity for cybercriminals as it for shoppers

With Amazon Prime Day just around the nook, the cybersecurity firm Tessian is warning that hackers will try to leverage the event to target bargain-hunting shoppers with phishing scams.

The first ever Amazon Prime Day was held on July 15, 2015 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Amazon’s website. The event has continued annually ever since though this year it has been moved to October 13 and 14 as a result of the pandemic.

According to Tessian, it’s likely that hackers will use Amazon Prime Day 2020 as a possibility to flood shoppers’ inboxes with faux deals and provides in an try and trick them into downloading malware or sharing their cost information and account details.

The cybersecurity firm highlighted the menace posed to retailers by phishing throughout peak purchasing intervals in its report from last year titled “Cashing In: How Hackers Target Retailers with Phishing Attacks”. In response to the report, 68 p.c of IT determination makers at UK retailers fear their model might be impersonated by hackers during the vacation purchasing season whereas one in 5 stated that phishing poses the best menace to their retail group within the interval main as much as the vacations.

Prime Day phishing attempts

As extra shoppers have turned to on-line shopping in the course of the pandemic, Tessian’s consultants predict that extra phishing scams will happen this year throughout Amazon Prime Day than they’ve in past years.

Tessian CEO Tim Sadler explained how cybercriminals typically attempt to piggy-back on Prime Day and different big shopping events in a press release, saying:

“Popular shopping days like Amazon Prime Day create the perfect environment for hackers’ phishing attempts. Shoppers predict to obtain more marketing and promoting emails throughout standard purchasing intervals, and this makes it easier for cybercriminals to ‘hide’ their malicious messages in people’s noisier-than-usual inboxes. Attackers also can leverage the ‘too-good-to-be-true’ offers, utilizing them as lures to efficiently deceive their victims. All through this year, we’ve seen cybercriminals “piggy-backing” on high profile occasions to make their phishing assaults as convincing as attainable. We can anticipate similar techniques this Prime Day, with hackers impersonating Amazon of their emails and supposedly offering folks the deals they’re seeking.”

To avoid falling sufferer to phishing scams this Prime Day, Tessian recommends that customers examine the sender of the e-mail to verify that it is an official e-mail handle, examine for spelling or grammar errors, keep away from opening hyperlinks and attachments in emails from unknown senders and avoid responding to any emails with a way of urgency or deadline. Finally, if a deal appears too good to be true, it most likely is.

For those who’re interested in discovering out one of the best early offers, check out our Prime Day 2020 information which will be up to date as we discover new offers throughout the event.