Phishing has posed threats to businesses for decades. With the advent of the current pandemic, however, the online waters have grown even more dangerous for workers to navigate. Our Austin tech support specialists at Gravity Systems want to make you aware of how some unscrupulous individuals and organizations could take advantage of your good will during this challenging time.

Some phishing scammers will take advantage of the condition surrounding financial aid options for small businesses. Your team might receive email messages or text messages from organizations pretending to offer links to government relief or loan programs. Don’t assume any such messages to be legitimate. Don’t click on any links, download any information, or submit any sensitive information.

The confusing nature of the COVID virus itself has people looking high and low for the latest medical updates and advice. This makes your employees vulnerable to any incoming messages claiming to be from the CDC, WHO, or other major public health resources. Any downloads or links associated with these messages are only there to steal contact data and/or financial information.

The confusion surrounding the pandemic has also introduced a degree of chaos into business transactions and internal communications -- a fact that has not gone unnoticed by phishing scammers. In an environment of heightened sale/delivery cancellations, refunds, requests to expedite activity, shipping delays, and internal memos on all manner of subjects, it’s easy for a phisher to throw in a few convincing-looking communications asking for money transfers or data permissions.

What can you do to protect your business against these COVID-related phishing scams? Educate your workers on the various angles that scammers might employ. Make sure that they know how to double-check email addresses and URLs for safe sources. Last but not least, ask our Gravity experts to beef up your anti-malware safeguards!