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Cybercriminals' Holiday Traditions May Cost Consumers Hundreds of DollarsToday McAfee (News - Alert), the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company, announced findings from its recent survey, A Christmas Carol: Scam Edition, revealing that nearly half (48%) of Americans have been a victim of or know someone who has been a victim of robocalling in 2019, making it the worst scam of the year and one to watch out for this Holiday season. While cybercriminal activity has grown in sophistication, scams of Christmas past are still haunting Americans today--respondents reported being targeted with email phishing (41%) and text phishing (35%). These scams along with robocalling are the top three prominent scams of the year. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191118005941/en/ McAfee A Christmas Carol: Scam Edition (Graphic: Business Wire) Together, these scams have hit Americans hard, with McAfee survey respondents admitting that these scams took a financial toll on them in 2019, with 74% losing more than $100 and almost a third (30%) losing more than $500. And according to McAfee Advanced Threat Research (ATR), more than 2.2 billion stolen account credentials were made available on the cybercriminal underground over the course of Q1 2019. This growing trend of personal online accounts for retailers being made available on the underground, and increasingly sophisticated threats means that the 2019 Holidays could be the most dangerous yet for consumers. "Just like your family, cybercriminals have holiday traditions and they are constantly looking for ways to tak advantage of holiday shoppers," said Gary Davis, Chief Consumer Security Evangelist at McAfee. "While most consumers believe that cyber-scams become more prevalent during the holiday season, a third don't actually take any steps to change their online behavior. It is crucial that we are mindful of potential risks and take the proper steps to protect ourselves this holiday season." As consumers use their devices and apps for everyday tasks, like holiday shopping, streaming TV shows and food delivery services, they are sharing more personal information than ever before. By targeting popular consumer apps, cybercriminals are able to collect and store key data, including home addresses, credit card information and account passwords. This adds a layer of complexity to cybersecurity that consumers didn't face years ago and adding to the potential of that information being used for malicious activity sometime in the future. One new trend that is set to hit unsavvy consumers hard this Holiday season is phony gift cards, with McAfee's ATR team seeing phony gift cards sold on the cybercriminal underground. Yet, the survey found that not even half (43%) of respondents are aware of bogus gift cards. Consumers are also not doing their own due diligence when it comes to checking shopping websites. According to McAfee research, over one-third (37%) of respondents admit that they do not check an email sender or retailer's website for authenticity. Tips to stay safe this holiday season:
Survey Methodology: McAfee commissioned 3Gem to conduct a survey of 1,000 adults in the U.S. over the age of 18 between October 10-20, 2019. About McAfee McAfee is the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company. Inspired by the power of working together, McAfee creates business and consumer solutions that make our world a safer place. www.mcafee.com McAfee technologies' features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software, or service activation. No computer system can be absolutely secure. McAfee® and the McAfee logo are trademarks of McAfee, LLC or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other marks and brands may be claimed as the property of others. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191118005941/en/ |