Companies warned to brace for Black Friday

Companies warned to brace for Black Friday


Hackers come out to play over Thanksgiving weekend

IT security consultancy firm Global Secure Systems has urged UK companies to review IT security procedures before the Thanksgiving weekend in the US.

"US hackers usually take advantage of the long holiday weekend to generate all sorts of attacks on internet-connected computer systems worldwide," said David Hobson, managing director of Global Secure Systems.

The upcoming weekend "hackerfest", now referred to as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, makes it vital for UK organisations to review IT security arrangements and ensure that all security patches are up to date.

"They should also prepare for the worst, and review ongoing business continuity arrangements in the event of an IT disaster," added Hobson.

"Thanksgiving in the US is the time when retailers give out freebies to their customers.

"Companies in the UK should watch out for hacker freebies that take the shape of malware-infected email and other digital mayhem. This is always a bad time of the year for malware."