According to a recent survey conducted by Innovery, hackers are increasingly exploiting the psychological vulnerabilities of their victims. The most used incentives are superficiality, excessive trust in other people and tiredness. In particular, according to the Innovery’s Cyber Profiling Division, cyber attacks, that exploit the emotional state of victims, increase more than 90% during big events or recurrent events, such as Black Friday or the Christmas holidays. The attacks committed in these
periods are of various types, from ransomware to phishing, through the creation of fake websites that almost perfectly imitate the official pages of Qatar 2022, for example, appearing credible in the eyes of unsuspecting fans, or fake promotions, fake prize campaigns, and much more, which are spread via email, SMS and apps.
With the arrival of the Christmas holidays, and the consequent increase in online shopping, threats related to ransomware and social engineering attacks will continue until at least January 2023.
Angelo Alabiso, IT security analyst in Innovery, explains: “Scam and distraction are the two most powerful weapons in the hands of hackers. Most of the attacks we analyze every day are built to exploit the emotional state of the victims, and make their defenses lower”… “On the occasion of important events, such as the World Cup in Qatar or Black Friday, our attention is lowered, leaving space for automatisms, such as clicking on a link without thinking, and it is easier to be victims of scams. Understanding and knowing how the psyche of criminals works can help us to reduce the effectiveness of their attacks and protect businesses and citizens”.
Innovery experts recommend keeping your attention high, since awareness is the first stage of defense. Checking the links, the addresses of the senders, as well as accessing the services only and exclusively through the official platforms can make the difference.
