A lot of businesses already had plans and procedures in place to accommodate for home working, however for many it was quick learning, with systems needing updating and security protocols reviewed. If you are using your personal equipment at home for business purposes, ensure it has all the latest anti-virus software installed.
Now is also the time to be very mindful of suspicious activity and online fraud. I had a company contact me this week, whose Facebook account had been hacked, online pages created and paid adverting up to £2,000 had been set up to go out of their account. Only £156.00 had been spent, before they noticed.
How did this happen? The company got an email saying that their Facebook account had been compromised, ‘click here to change password.’ They checked the email address it was sent from and it looked legitimate.…they went ahead, clicked and changed their password. They carried on as normal and it was not until a few days later they noticed strange activity on their Facebook page…..this is when they contacted us.
After some investigation around their account, we were able to see they had been hacked. Thankfully and with full respect to Facebook, once notified they reacted straight away and are refunding the money, which was spent on the account. One very relieved business owner!
How can I make sure this doesn’t happen to me?
- Never click a link from an email to update or change a password. Go straight to the website and change personal information from there.
- Be on your guard even more now, as ever. Unfortunately, people are taking advantage of this unsettling situation and using individual’s vulnerability to their own gain. Help each other out and share what spam and fraud you are coming across.
- Monitor and report any suspicious activity on your accounts.
- Never share personal details or account information with anyone, particularly passwords. Online businesses/retailers should never ask for your password on a personal chat site or over the phone.
Keep safe everyone; online and at home.
