{"id":4683,"date":"2018-11-23T02:44:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T02:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/gchq-warns-on-black-friday-cyber-threat\/"},"modified":"2018-11-23T02:44:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-23T02:44:12","slug":"gchq-warns-on-black-friday-cyber-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/gchq-warns-on-black-friday-cyber-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"GCHQ warns on Black Friday cyber-threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Black Friday could provide “prime pickings” for cyber-crime, warns the security agency
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Black Friday sales could be targeted as “prime pickings” for cyber-crime, the UK’s cyber-security defence agency has warned shoppers.<\/p>\n

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of the GCHQ intelligence service, is issuing advice to shoppers of the risk of “malicious” online threats.<\/p>\n

It is the first such official cyber-warning in the run-up to the Christmas shopping season.<\/p>\n

“It’s vital that knowledge is shared,” says Ian Levy of the cyber-agency.<\/p>\n

The cyber-wing of the GCHQ communications centre says it wants to start a “national cyber-chat” on Black Friday when billions are spent on online shopping.<\/p>\n

Speaking in public<\/h2>\n

It might be known for working in secret, but the agency wants to engage with the public over the seriousness of the threat.<\/p>\n

It has been involved in trying to tackle more than 550 significant cyber-incidents in the past 12 months, and has taken down almost 140,000 “phishing” websites used by fraudsters.<\/p>\n

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is giving tips for individual consumers to avoid cyber-crime – and for the first time it will be publishing answers to questions from the public on Twitter.<\/p>\n

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\n There are warnings for better cyber-security when billions are being spent on online shopping
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“Staying safe online doesn’t require deep technical knowledge, and we want the whole country to know that the NCSC speaks the same language as them,” said Mr Levy, the cyber-defence agency’s technical director.<\/p>\n

“With so many of the UK shopping online, we want to see these tips shared from classrooms and scout groups to family dinner tables and old people’s homes.”<\/p>\n

The agency’s chief executive, Ciaran Martin, recently told a meeting of business leaders of a “serious and sustained” threat, including from “elite hackers” in other countries.<\/p>\n

“It is not speculation and it is not scare-mongering,” said Mr Martin. “Large-scale criminal cyber-activity is, sadly, ubiquitous.”<\/p>\n

This could include the “theft of millions” from retailers and attacks on financial networks on which shops depend, he said.<\/p>\n

‘Post-Christmas headache’<\/h2>\n

A data breach had an average cost of \u00a33m, he said – and there were estimates that the WannaCry cyber-attack last year had cost the United States \u00a33.5bn.<\/p>\n

Another cyber-attack last year, known as NotPetya, had cost one firm up to \u00a3250m, including the cost of replacement IT equipment.<\/p>\n

The British Retail Consortium is backing the calls for better cyber-security during the Christmas shopping season.<\/p>\n

“With more and more shoppers looking to get the best deals online, retailers continue to invest significantly in developing the right tools and expertise to protect against cyber-threats,” says James Martin, security adviser to the retailers’ organisation.<\/p>\n

But he warned of the danger of cyber-crime causing a “post-Christmas headache”.<\/p>\n

The National Cyber Security Centre’s advice to reduce the risk of cyber-crime is:<\/p>\n