Christmas season brings holiday phishing attempts

Cybercriminals may take advantage of the holiday season by emailing viruses in the form of fake package delivery notices, according to USA Today.

Caleb Barlow, vice president for IBM Security, told USA Today that the holiday phishing season is a $445 billion business that runs from Thanksgiving through Christmas. USA Today also noted that the security company FireEye reports a significant increase in fake package emails during this time period.

These emails often contain malware, which may be used to find a user's personal information, either to sell or leverage to enter the user's financial accounts. Emails may also contain ransomware, in an effort to coerce the user to send payments through digital currency.

Common phishing subject lines include "Please Confirm Your DHL Shipment," "We could not deliver your parcel, #00556030" and "Your DHL is here please download attachment to view detail and confirmation of your address," according to USA Today.

Cybersecurity experts encourage users to double check their correct name, customer number and other information are listed in the email and that the email address is from the actual company, rather than a similar variant.

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