With recent data breaches to Optus and Medibank in Australia highlighting the ever-present risk to online security, Norton Labs is providing insights to top consumer cybersecurity threats and prevention methods.
Norton’s Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse Report from July to September 2022 indicated that over 9.5 million threats were intercepted over the 30 days. That’s around 300 thousand threats per day! Norton Labs has analysed these recent mass-attacks, alerting users of sneaky ways your privacy and security could be compromised.
“Cybercriminals have become experts at catching one-time codes used in most two-factor authentication and they know that by undermining the systems that send the codes, their efforts are even more effective”
Jeff Nathan, Technical Director and Researcher, NortonLifeLock.
Top Consumer Cybersecurity Threats
In addition to common privacy threats such as phishing attempts and mobile attacks, cybercriminals are increasingly turning towards scam e-shops. These illegitimate sites, offering everything from clothes to electronics and jewellery, are dangerously polished with positive reviews and ties to social media. As many unfortunate users may be aware, after placing an order you may receive nothing at all.
In 2021 alone, the US Federal Trade Commission detailed over 397,826 reports of online shopping fraud. In losses, this amounted to over $392 million.
Ways to Prevent Cybersecurity Attempts
Norton Labs suggests responsible habits to regularly use online are to watch out for prices that seem too good to be true, unsolicited messages, unusual social media ads and unusual payment-processing methods. An awareness of how the prevalence of cybersecurity attacks can go a long way.
To add, A handy URL lookup tool, the Norton Safe Web, can easily let shoppers know if a site is known to be malicious. Users can add any URL, which will be checked against an automated analysis and include other user’s feedback.
For more information and Cyber Safety guidance, visit the Norton Internet Security Center.
