Diwali sales are here: Tips to protect yourself from cyber crime this festive season

We are living in a world where we do everything online. India today has set a global benchmark in digitisation, particularly in payments. 

The country currently leads in real-time digital payments by clocking almost 40 per cent of all such transactions. According to the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), payment through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) crossed a milestone of Rs 11 lakh crore in September. 

During the month, 678 crore transactions in volume terms were done on the UPI platform. Last month, as many as 657.9 crore transactions worth Rs 10.72 lakh crore had taken place. Payment through UPI had crossed Rs 10 lakh crore in May this year. But with this evolution come new threats and new solutions are needed to combat them. As cyber-attacks gain notoriety, companies turn to cyber security experts to protect their customers, and themselves. 

Sanjay Katkar, Joint MD & CTO, Quick Heal Technologies Ltd said, "Some of the common attributes of these attacks include phishing scams with fake deals, which have been a prominent attack vector. There was also a surge in the registration of fake websites related to online shopping around the same period. Most of these attacks play on the psychology of customers and exploit their greed with lucrative deals. They attract customers with deep discounts and festive deals, enticing them to click the bait and become vulnerable to attacks." 

Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. is a global cybersecurity solution provider. The current portfolio of cloud-based security and advanced machine learning- enabled solutions stops threats, attacks, and malicious traffic before it strikes. The security solutions are indigenously developed in India. 

"Additionally, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting customers after they have made their purchase and are waiting for the shipment to arrive," Katkar added. He further noted, "This is not only limited to websites - we have come across scams over various avenues, including WhatsApp & other social media platforms, SMS, Phone calls, etc., with the context of redeeming expiring reward points or cashback offers. Most of these are designed to steal credentials or OTP codes from the users."

Tips to avoid cyber crime 

The best strategy to avoid falling for such scams is to practice good online hygiene

One should not click on any links or emails from unknown sources

Assume any information, deal, scheme, or link coming from unverified sources is malicious and avoid acting on it

Exercise caution and double-confirm before opening any unknown website or forum

Avoid sharing personal details unless the genuineness of such websites is confirmed

With the festive season just around the corner, Raj Sivaraju, President, APAC, Arete warned that Cyber-attacks and data breaches on businesses often rise around the festive season. "Firms that keep data may have to deal with high and long-term costs and consequences when breached," he said. 

Arete leverages the intelligence and lessons from their breach investigations to help law enforcement, non-profit agencies, and governments be more effective in their efforts in combating cybercrime. Sivaraju added, "As online shopping increases rapidly, cybercriminals can target businesses and their customers through phishing scams with fake deals and discounts, thus making them more vulnerable than ever during festivals. Organizations must be mindful of the data breaches and attacks that tend to happen more during the festive season.

The role of AI in the industry is crucial as the world moves towards smart and connected tech than ever before. With cybercrimes picking up with time, enterprises are now focusing on AI solutions to protect systems, sensitive information and data. SCS Tech is another such company providing cybersecurity solutions. SCS Tech specializes in designing, building, and running optimized security solutions in sync with customers’ needs. The company works on improving network and system security through continuous assessments. 

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How cyber criminals use your personal information 

Cyber criminals use the personal information of people to carry out social engineering attacks

Identity thefts

Phishing attacks

Unauthorised financial transactions and issuing SIM cards illegally
 
Threat actors are jumping on the bandwagon by hosting fake websites and impersonating major firms. The domains impersonate popular Indian brands, including various telecommunication providers, banks, payment wallets, courier services etc. This includes Fino Payments Bank, DTDC, India Post etc. to present themselves as a legitimate business. 

The threat group employs Google Ads, social network pages and SEO optimisation techniques to distribute and popularise these domains. Victims are duped into sharing their PII (personally identifiable information) and one-time passwords (OTPs) on a KYC portal integrated with popular payment channels.

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