People in Carlow warned of phishing and ransomware attacks as new campaign launched

Gardaí and the Irish government have jointly launched a public awareness campaign on the risks of phishing and ransomware attacks. 

Launched yesterday (October 4) by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee alongside Minister of State Oisian Smyth and Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, the campaign includes public events hosted by local Crime Prevention Officers focusing on the risk online crime poses for small and medium businesses, and for the elderly. 

The campaign is part of the European Cyber Security Month in October to address the growth in cyber-attacks.

To help prevent attacks, Gardaí recommend updating software regularly including antivirus and system updates, avoiding insecure public wifi, changing log-on credentials regularly, keeping personal and work data separate, securely backing up data regularly, and reporting hacking to employers and/or Gardaí. 

Carlow takes the crown for most prepared county for electric vehicles

Carlow SMEs urged to be vigilant of cyber attacks

The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and the National Cyber Security Centre have noticed an increase in ransomware attacks against small and medium businesses. Many of these attacks are launched through infected email attachments or phishing email which link to fraudulent websites that are used to download malicious software (malware) onto the targeted computer.

The European Cyber Security Month 2022 programme was launched today.

The themes of this year’s programme are ransomware and phishing. At the launch event the speakers outlined the rise in these types of attacks and how online users can best protect themselves from cyber attacks. pic.twitter.com/rSt4h7v6iK

— Garda Info (@gardainfo) October 4, 2022

According to Gardaí, phishing attacks occur when you receive an email that looks like it is from your bank, a supplier or another official agency. The email tells you that your account is locked, that you are due a tax refund or that a package is delayed and that you have to click on the link to unlock the account, the refund of the package for delivery.

Clicking on the link brings you to a copy of the bank’s site or the webpage belonging to the ‘supplier’ and a request to enter private or banking details. If you supply these, they will likely be used to commit fraud or sold online.

If you receive an email of this type, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK in the email; instead, delete the email and ignore it. If you still are unsure, you can telephone the bank, the supplier or the company mentioned in the email. 

A number of webinars will be hosted by Ibec and the Citizens Information Board throughout the month. 

For more information, click here.