The Cybersecurity Council of the UAE Government has warned shoppers against fraudulent transactions during occasions when shopping increases, such as “White Friday” and others, calling on individuals to protect themselves by using secure payment methods such as digital wallets, adhering to secured shopping sites, and not clicking on suspicious links. .
He stated that “fraudulent shopping messages include fake offers and discounts, suspicious links, and the use of phrases that urge the shopper to take advantage of the opportunity before it passes or expires, etc., which results in cyber risks.”
He pointed out that statistics reveal that more than 38 million phishing attacks will be recorded in 2024, as cybercriminals take advantage of increasing online activity and seasonal shopping trends.
He confirmed that last year witnessed a 36.5% increase in the detection of suspicious URLs and an increase in risks, especially during events with high demand such as “White Friday” and “Digital Shopping Monday.”
The Cybersecurity Council, through its official account on the “X” website, showed a video clip explaining the risks associated with the targeted shopping seasons, showing examples of some of the fake offer messages circulating that result in a fraud, such as “Shop from our holiday offers, and a discount of up to 50% on all… Products with free shipping on all orders,” “Limited-time offer: Get exclusive offers on our website before they end today!”, and “Urgent, order now and enjoy the 50% holiday discount. Enter payment details here”, “Your Cyber Monday order cannot be shipped, click (here) to verify your payment details instantly”, and “Shop authentic luxury products at discounts of up to 50%, visit our site to shop safely.”
The Council directed shoppers to follow three strategies to outmaneuver fraudsters, including using digital wallets and credit cards to ensure additional protection for transactions, avoiding clicking on suspicious links or sharing personal information online, verifying that the site uses the secure (HTTPS) protocol, and ensuring the presence of symbols and logos of payment systems. Trustworthy, and review bank account statements on a regular basis to detect any unauthorized financial activity.
He stressed the importance of individuals enhancing their knowledge and being careful to ensure that all their online payments are protected from cyber threats.
The Council has developed a guide for secure online payments, which includes a set of practical tips that must be followed to ensure the safety of digital transactions, starting with verifying secure payment gateways through the permanent use of secure platforms equipped with (SSL) encryption and reliable verification badges, and ensuring the accreditation of trusted sellers, by avoiding transactions. With untrusted or suspicious merchants, avoiding phishing links, never entering payment information in links sent via email or text messages, and visiting the site directly. Instead, closely monitor banking records, use multi-factor authentication, protect financial data and make all transactions fraud-proof.
The Cyber Security Council revealed earlier that the cyber attacks that targeted strategic sectors in the country amounted to more than 200,000 terrorist cyber attacks per day issued by cyber terrorist groups in about 14 countries, which were monitored and the identity of the perpetrators and the launch sites of their cyber attacks were accurately identified. Deter them and confront them, according to the latest international methods in this field.
The Council explained that the ongoing terrorist cyber attacks targeted a number of strategic sectors, led by the government sector by 30%, the financial and banking sector by 7%, the education sector by 7%, the technology sector by 4%, and the aviation and hospital sectors by 8% equally, while the rest of the sectors took over. Contains 44% of all terrorist cyber attacks.
The Cyber Security Council identified the most dangerous hacking methods and discovered threats that targeted the main sectors of the state and were dealt with efficiently and professionally. They varied between denial of service attacks targeting peripheral devices and accounted for 39% of the total terrorist cyberattacks, encryption and data leakage attacks at 37%, and application hacking attacks. Online at 24%, ransomware at 7% and other attacks at 11%.
The Council expected that this year would witness the continuation of cyber attacks with the adoption of modern and advanced technologies by various parties, which vary between traditional attacks such as phishing, and others.
The Council stressed the need for all government and private agencies to comply with cybersecurity standards, to ensure that they are avoided being exposed to such malicious cyberattacks.
• “Cybersecurity” directs people to avoid clicking on suspicious links and sharing personal information.
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