Bank hacking ‘text messages, calls and emails’ will follow mass IT outage as experts share signs criminals are targeting you

CRIMINALS will come out of the woodwork to scam victims as the world faces a global IT catastrophe.

A fraudulent software update on Friday left Windows PCs unable to turn on across the world – with supermarkets, banks, airlines and even hospitals reporting problems.

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Security giant CrowdStrike was to blame for botching the update pushed to business computers running its Falcon antivirus software.

This meant that Windows PCs faced the “Blue Screen of Death” that prevented them from booting properly.

The event caused IT chaos around the world, with the CEO of CrowdStrike saying the company is “deeply sorry” for the world-shaking accident.

Now, security experts have told The US Sun that criminals could take advantage of the event to target new victims – even if your PC was not affected by the outage.

There are two groups that will be targeted, according to Calvin Gan, senior manager of scam protection strategy at F-Secure.

First are the businesses affected by the outage, and second are the ordinary people whose machines were fully operational.

“Now that these affected companies are in public NewsThese companies need to monitor their communications channels for malicious calls or messages,” Gan told The US Sun.

“Which may be under the guise of offering support, but may actually have an ulterior motive.”

Ordinary people will mostly face “disruptions” to their healthcare, travel and banking services.

But Gan had “evergreen advice” for normal web users as well, including spotting signs that you’re being scammed by enterprising criminals.

“If they have carried out banking transactions but these have failed, be aware of your bank’s connections and properly check their legitimacy,” Gan told us.

“In particular by checking whether the phone number belongs to the bank in question.

“If they have been affected by airline service disruptions, monitor for phishing emails claiming to offer refunds for missed flights or similar compensation.”

“In general, be alert to any emails, messages or calls that use an urgent tone of voice, such as ‘Act now, do this, respond now or you will miss the opportunity.’

“Because they could be scammers trying to take advantage of the situation.”

And it looks like they already are – the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned that criminals are trying to target victims following the outage.

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In a report, CISA wrote: “It is noteworthy that CISA observed threat actors taking advantage of this incident for phishing and other malicious activities.

“CISA urges organizations and individuals to remain vigilant and only follow instructions from legitimate sources.

“CISA recommends that organizations remind their employees to avoid clicking on phishing emails or suspicious links.”

Earlier today, experts told The US Sun that hackers may attempt to replicate the outage in the future.

And security professionals warned that the world could take “weeks” to recover from the consequences of the outage.

But not everyone is feeling the gloom: US Sun shared how Apple Mac fans are overjoyed to have avoided the outage.

CrowdStrike has already issued a fix for the issue, but many Windows machines will still require manual repairs.

A Microsoft spokesperson told The US Sun, “Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for taking down multiple IT systems around the world.

“We are actively supporting clients to help with their recovery.”