Fake News Virus Warnings

Businesses are encouraging staff to be extra-vigilant after an increase in malicious content distributed through social media.

Social media websites are documenting a rise in falsified articles that use notable fake news stories to encourage people to click. Once they land on the website however, they can be susceptible to a whole range of malicious content like malware and viruses.

Two recent examples of these hoax-type stories include an article purporting the death of popular Mr. Bean actor Rowan Atkinson and an article reporting US President Trump had suffered a stroke. The news articles are spread through social media and encourage visitors to click through to their websites. Once there, visitors can inadvertently download malware, ransomware and other dangerous viruses.

Use caution when following links

Businesses in particular are warned to be vigilant towards this type of content and ensure that not only are their staff briefed on the dangers but also that they have robust protections in place should any of their employees fail to adhere to their advice.

Employees should be given comprehensive training and guidelines regarding staying safe online. They should be told to only click on ‘trusted’ news sources and where possible get their news directly from the provider, instead of visiting through social media, as this avoids so-called ‘spoofing’ of URL’s.

It’s important to note that even with good levels of training there is still a strong chance that your business could fall victim to phishing, hacks, scams and ransomware, so as well as providing training to your employees you need to make sure that your systems are well protected with up-to-date software, firewalls and anti-virus programs.

Here at ECL we have extensive experience in protecting businesses against the latest malware, computer hacks, viruses, spam, phishing scams and other threats and can advise you on the best methods of protecting your business. We can also help businesses to update their systems to run the latest and most secure version of Windows available. For more information please, please call us on 01268 575300 or email us on info@ecl.co.uk.