It’s Halloween! Scary Cyber Attacks and How To Avoid Them

The scariest day of the year is here! While you’re getting ready for this fun holiday with costumes, candy and jack-o’-lanterns, don’t forget to make sure that you don’t get caught out by any cyber monsters. We’ll let you in on our top tips for staying cyber safe this Halloween – but first, let’s take a look back at some of the scariest cyber attacks that have happened this year.

Ransomware attack on Los Angeles Unified

The LA school district system was just hit with a ransomware attack earlier this month. This attack actually entails a bunch of different sectors and businesses being affected – public school systems use transport providers, food and nutrition services, and healthcare systems, as well as the personal data and Social Security numbers of thousands of students. It would be dangerous if all this information fell into the wrong hands. Additionally, it’s worrying that there are currently no nationwide guidelines for digital security in school districts – cybersecurity awareness needs to be ramped up.

Twilio Hack

The US-based communication services provider was the victim of a socially-engineered voice-phishing attack whereby the threat actor impersonated someone else in order to trick them into handing over private information. Actually, it wasn’t the customers who were the targets here, but the employees of Twilio themselves – by gaining their employee credentials, the hackers could then gain access to a lot more customer information in one fell swoop.

Cryptocurrency Stolen

Back in January, the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com was targeted, and the hackers stole approximately $30 million worth of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. Scarily, the hackers were able to bypass two-factor authentication and access users’ wallets. This is another example of why using a password manager is so important.

So, what precautions can you take this Halloween to stay cyber safe?

🎃 Use a Password Manager – if hackers are even managing to bypass two-factor authentication, using a password manager protects you even further against attacks.

🎃 Phishing awareness – reiterate to friends, family, colleagues and employees that they mustn’t reveal any private information or sensitive data, or make any financial transactions unless it’s to a trusted source – and by trusted means.

🎃 Beware of suspicious messages – there’s nothing scarier than inadvertently installing malware on your device. If you receive a message from an unknown sender, whether it’s an email, SMS or chat room message – if it looks odd, don’t click on it! 

Wishing you a safe and enjoyable Halloween!

For more information on ReasonLabs' cybersecurity products, visit us at: www.reasonlabs.com.