Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner—the most wonderful time of the year for cyber thieves!

Help protect yourself and your organization with these five cybersecurity holiday hacks from Stinnett & Associates.

Holiday Phishing Attacks
Is your inbox starting to fill up with online holiday deals, shipping notifications or charity donation requests? If you don’t know who sent them, delete them. Scammers would love to spend your holiday budget on themselves.

Business Email Compromise
Business email compromise (BEC) or digital invoice fraud, has become a $6 billion industry for cyber criminals. BEC attackers gain access to a company’s email account and spoofs the employees or vendors of the organization, often asking for a wire transfer or gift card purchases – the perfect ploy for the Grinch to steal Christmas.

Ensure IT systems are secure.
With most employees taking vacation during the holidays, it may be harder to identify an enterprise-wide system breach. Make sure your IT staff is on high alert, especially at companies that rely heavily on SaaS applications.

Two-factor Authentication
Looking for that perfect gift? So are fraudsters – at your expense. Implement an extra layer of security by sending a one-time passcode to your device.

Consider Penetration Testing
Gift yourself peace of mind this season by uncovering vulnerabilities before hackers infiltrate your network. With cyberattacks becoming the norm, Stinnett recommends regular penetration tests to identify weaknesses, strengthen security controls and keep sensitive data safe.