Valentine ’ s Day is fast-approaching and the story goes that if Cupid hits you with his golden arrow you ’ ll fall madly in love . But there are other actors taking aim at you on Valentine ’ s Day whose arrows you need to avoid as the outcomes aren ’ t nearly as desirable . Think back to early February 2016 , when many online florists experienced a surge in traffic that wasn ’ t due simply to a rush to buy flowers . Dozens of florists were hit Attack.Ransom by targeted DDoS attacks during their busiest time of the year , causing problems for some and knocking others offline who were asked to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom before they could resume operations . It ’ s fairly typical for bad actors to escalate extortion-based campaigns Attack.Ransom during seasonal events when the stakes for targets are high . Looking to profit with minimal investment , attackers exploit known vulnerabilities as they attempt to breach systems . For example , the 2016 Valentine ’ s Day DDoS attacks used Shellshock , a critical vulnerability that ’ s present in Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability Linux , UNIX and Mac OS X that had been discovered Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability more than a year earlier . Of course , online florists are not alone when it comes to being targeted by cyber criminals . Different times of the year and major news events can trigger a surge in attacks aimed at particular industries and geographies . Organisations need to understand their threat model and apply security processes as appropriate . Threat actors will continue to take advantage of events to launch attacks , but you can avoid their arrows this Valentine ’ s Day .