Malware Could Spike to 40% or More on Cyber Monday 2014

The Holiday season is upon us and cyber crooks are gearing up to pounce like roaring tigers on the nearest prey surfing the Internet for the latest online deals. Hackers consider a day like Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, to be a holiday of their own, more or less a virtual pay day as they target online shoppers in unprecedented numbers.

As millions of Americans begin to shop online for the best holiday deals, cyber criminals are preparing to infect millions of computers with malware. If history is any guide, malware infections in the U.S. could spike 40% in the days surrounding Cyber Monday 2014. That's according to data released by Enigmasoftware.com, makers of the anti-spyware program SpyHunter. The malware experts at ESG analyzed infection scanning reports on more than a million infections covering thousands of computers in the U.S. On the three days surrounding Cyber Monday 2013, infections spiked a whopping 40% over the average for that time of year. Many of those infections, such as ransomware threats (CryptoLocker and CryptoWall), botnets and many others, are game for either stealing personal data or corrupting information stored on your computer to the point that you can no longer utilize your system to shop on the Internet.

"The 40% spike in 2013 mirrors what we have seen in prior years," said Patrick Morganelli, Senior VP of Technology at Enigma Software. "The holiday shopping season is not only one of the busiest times of year for major stores but for malware as well. Cyber crooks are social engineering thugs that take advantage of shifts in online trends and they know that people will swarm the Web to search for the best online deals."

Malicious Tactics Used During the Holiday Shopping Season

Here are some of the most common ways that cyber crooks use the holiday shopping season to target computers users:

• Spam emails and links promising to-good-to-be-true deals. Malware makers know that people will be on the lookout for great prices on everything from Xboxes to smartphones. They'll send bogus emails promising super low prices and those emails will have malware-laced links if they are clicked. Cyber crooks will also post malicious links on compromised Facebook and Twitter accounts.
• Fake emails that pretend to come from real online retailers such as Amazon or Toys R Us. Since online shoppers are expecting email confirmations from popular retailers, cyber crooks will use this human behavior and spoof legitimate retailers' email address. The email message may contain a fraudulent invoice with a link that will redirect to a fake website or download an attachment with malware. Do not open email attachments or click on a link of any kind if you are not sure if it is legit!
• Poisoned search engine may deliver tainted links. Search engine poisoning attacks are created to hijack results so that fake websites can potentially show in the first page of results for popular search terms. Sophisticated cyber crooks can poison search results with fake web pages promising to offer hot holiday items at very low prices or, often times, free. If a computer user, who trust their preferred search engine to filter out malicious links, unknowningly clicks on a link from a poisoned search result, he will be led to a malware-delivering website. On the other hand, other computer users may be redirected to spam/phishing sites created to increase the traffic to or the ranking of malicious websites.

"Cyber crooks know that people are rushing to find good deals and most likely not being cautious when checking emails and doing Google searches," Morganelli says. "The holidays are the time where people should be extremely careful of the sites they visit. People should keep in mind that sites that offer free stuff usually just offer the not-so-joyful gift of malware."

Today's malware infections are far more than the simple nuisances of that past. Some of the more common malware infections found today can steal personal information, access your contacts and important files, and in some cases, literally hold your computer hostage until you pay a ransom to unlock it.

Malware Spikes during Cyber Monday 2013 Found in 20 of U.S Largest Cities

Below is a list of the spike in malware infections surrounding Cyber Monday for each of the 20 largest cities in the U.S.

City	Cyber Monday 2013 Infection Change vs Prior Month
New York	+48.25%
Los Angeles	+39.01%
Chicago	+29.13%
Houston	+47.24%
Philadelphia	+31.29%
Phoenix	+35.81%
San Antonio	+25.83%
San Diego	+83.00%
Dallas	+41.31%
San Jose	+29.06%
Austin	+66.43%
Indianapolis	+34.79%
Jacksonville	+58.48%
San Francisco	+33.52%
Columbus	+47.26%
Charlotte	+24.55%
Fort Worth	-51.79%
Detroit	+43.40%
El Paso	+43.52%
Memphis	+83.24%

Tips to Prevent Holiday Malware

The malware experts at Enigmasoftware.com offer the following tips to help protect against malware infections during the holiday season:

• Never click on suspicious links found in social media messages. This includes direct messages sent to you via Twitter and Facebook. The messages may look like they are coming from your friends, but there's a good chance their account has been compromised and cyber crooks are trying to trick you into providing personal information.
• Be wary of unfamiliar websites that ask you to install software before continuing with your online shopping. It's more than likely that downloading software from suspicious sources may lead to malware or a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP).
• Always have reliable anti-spyware and anti-malware software installed (we obviously recommend SpyHunter), and make sure to run frequent scans and updates.
• If you are trying to check on the status of an online order, type the web site of the retailer into your address bar manually to log in and check. You should not trust a link sent in an email message that asks for personal information.

Every holiday season we witness first-hand several online shoppers who succumb to the many sneaky tricks and tactics that cyber crooks ensue over the Internet, and these "tricks" are virtually endless in their devious methods. With Internet shopping during the holiday season at an all-time high each and every year, cyber crooks will surely be on the look for your each and every move. It is up to you to take the necessary precautions and adhere to them if you don't want to end up having your holiday season wrecked by your online accounts getting hacked, or worse, having to deal with identity theft over a simple online purchase.