Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

In 2020, the world moved online, and the pandemic kicked industry demand into overdrive. Seemingly overnight, entire organizations yielded to the mandates pushed by health professionals, encouraging anyone not already online to make an account or two. That year, transaction card fraud totaled around $149 million in losses in the US and has only increased since then, up to $48 billion globally.

A scam operation called “Estate” has attempted to trick nearly a hundred thousand people into handing over multi-factor authentication codes over the past year, according to Zack Whittaker at TechCrunch. The scammers target users of Amazon, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Coinbase, Instagram, Mastercard, PayPal, Venmo, Yahoo and more.

Check out our Avast Q1/2023 Threat Report to see how social engineering scams have surged a whopping 61% on mobile and 23% on desktop.

We’re in the throes of another pandemic, but this time, it’s not transmitted through the air – it spreads with just a click. Welcome to the world of deepfakes. While COVID-19 significantly impacted our physical and mental well-being, deepfakes affect our minds differently. Their influence is causing confusion, mistrust and a distorted perception of reality, both personally and globally.

How far are you willing to go to obtain love? Online threats surround us every time we get on the Internet—all of them are out for more than a lasting emotional connection. Romance scams are the most insidious of online threats, not because they wreck the emotional and financial statuses of their victims but because they are incredibly well-thought-out.

The FBI has issued a warning to US retailers about a financially-motivated malicious hacking ring that has been targeting employees with phishing attacks in an attempt to create fraudulent gift cards. Staff at the corporate offices of US retail companies have been the target of highly-sophisticated email phishing and SMS phishing ("smishing") attacks. These attacks attempt to gain access to employee accounts, IT systems, and cloud services used by the company.

Facebook (FB) is the most popular social platform worldwide, hosting 2.9 billion monthly active users. The draw to FB comes from its social connectivity, allowing friends and family to stay connected, updated, and in each other’s lives, no matter where they are. Facebook’s success is also due, in part, to its platform services. The Facebook Marketplace is among the most used, with nearly 16% of active users (491 million people) using the platform to review the available items.