Security News > 2021 > November > Malicious shopping websites surge in number in advance of Black Friday
A report released Friday by cyber threat intelligence provider Check Point Research reveals a dramatic rise in these types of sites compared with earlier in 2021.
Since the beginning of October, the number of malicious shopping sites has jumped to more than 5,300 ones each week, adding up to an increase of 178% compared with the average number for 2021.
Since the start of November, the number of corporate networks impacted by these sites has risen to 1 out of every 38 compared with 1 in 352 earlier in the year.
Another campaign spotted by Check Point impersonated legitimate shopping sites with the likely goal of stealing account credentials.
An email written in Japanese claimed to be from "Amazon. Urgent notice" and contained a subject line translated into English that said: "System Notification: Unfortunately, we were unable to renew your Amazon account." The website linked to in the message was masquerading as Amazon's Japanese shopping site.
Run a search for a shopping site before you visit it to make sure you're going through the correct URL.Watch out for lookalike domains.