“Your shipment is waiting,” police alert for Christmas hoaxes. “It’s phishing, don’t click it”

On schedule, in light of the holidays, the authorities’ ultimatum against 2022 also arrives The most popular remote “Christmas” scam: which – which (Known now) from stealth Shipment awaiting delivery. It’s easy to understand why it’s more insidious in December than usual: It’s at this time of year that people receive gifts, so they can be led to believe that similar connections, It is usually transmitted via text message or email, are actually from trusted senders. “Beware of emails warning you that you can’t deliver a package and that you click to choose when to receive it,” So he warned the state police Wednesday on Twitter. The reason was soon said: «It is about phishing Then clicking will steal your personal information.

Do not enter the required data

Accompanying Twitter, a picture of a typical scam email: «We need your confirmation to ship your order – is reading -. Shipment pending». In this case, a message is intended to induce the user to click on a site whose design faithfully replicates that of Poste Italiane. Therefore, woe to entering the required confidential data inside it (Bank account details in the first place), above all bearing in mind that no courier will ask for additional money while the shipment is in progress: This would be tantamount to handing it directly into the hands of the perpetrators of fraud. “Messages remain an essential communication channel for many companies and even for some organizations – cyber security experts declared these days – and that is why they are still one of them. A tool widely used by cybercriminals to spread their scam campaigns».

Phenomenon numbers

Just to give an idea of ​​the phenomenon, research by Opentext Security Solutions found this More than a third (36%) of all phishing scams in 2021 occurred right before Christmas. Moreover, an analysis by Check Point Software in the last month of November highlighted how About 17% of all malicious files distributed via email include terms such as “orders,” “delivery,” and “shipments.”. “Hackers never go on vacation,” highlighted Marco Vanoli, Team Lead Security Engineer at Check Point Software. exactly the contrary, Take advantage of these moments, and Christmas in particular, and take advantage of the many online purchases and the calm that this period instills in all of us.. These must be the reasons for us to pay more attention when shopping online and surfing the Internet.

Three helpful tips

What precautions must be taken, therefore, in order not to fall into the trap of protecting personal data? In the event of phishing, whether or not related to the alleged shipments, The basic rules are basically three: Do not open the link and, in any case, never enter the requested personal data; Identify faulty connectionswhich are generally not intended, refer to the winning of some prize or the resolution of a sudden safety or performance problem and end with a tone of threat of immediate suspension of service if the indications given are not followed; Do not download attached files or request removal from the list of recipients. In this way, Christmas will be really calm.