The Holidays Are Here!

With that comes the season of joy, giving, and last minute shopping. While online shopping covers convenience with quick service, and great deals, it opens the door for potential cyber risks. From phishing scams, to data breaches, it’s important to stay weary at a time like this. Here’s our comprehensive guide to ensure you get your gifts this year, safely.

Go Shopping Prepared!

The best way to stop an attack is to prevent one in the first place. Preparation can eradicate, and minimize damage in the event of a hack, attack, or stolen data. To prepare, ensure your devices are updated with the latest software and operating systems. Devices are regularly updated with patches and hotfixes to ensure your safety and security in the digital realm. In conjunction with your OS, it’s important to install and update antivirus software as an added bonus to protect against malware and viruses when browsing the web.

On the financial side, it’s important to familiarize yourself with your bank’s fraud reporting process. Some can detect fraud and notify you automatically, some require manual interception and notification. If you suspect fraud or theft, most banks have apps that allow you to control your card, and you can freeze your card at the simple click of a button.

Use Strong Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

One of the worst things that can happen is getting your account stolen. Once cybercriminals can access an account of yours, they can start pulling data from that, and potentially start stealing others. You can protect them by creating strong, unique passwords for them. The automatically generated passwords are a great starting place. Though, those can be a bit tricky to remember, so a safe place to store them is with a password manager. Another way to ensure your safety online, is enabling 2 factor authentication. While it can be annoying when you’re in a rush, it’s worth the extra steps. 2FA will send notifications to your primary accounts and devices when someone is trying to access your account. For example, Google will send a notification directly to your phone when someone from an unrecognized device is trying to access your account. If that someone is you, great! You can simply press a button, enter a code, and you’re in. If it’s not you, you have the option to report it, and all your worries go down the drain.

Avoid Shopping on Unsecure Wi-Fi, and Websites

If you’re out and about, and realize you forgot to order something for someone special, it may be tempting to find the closest Wi-Fi network and figure that out quickly. While convenient, cybercriminals can intercept your data if you’re not careful. It’s worth it to wait the extra minute, get home to your own Wi-Fi, and do it there. If you must use public Wi-Fi, avoid entering sensitive information like credit card numbers, addresses, anything of the sort. If you must purchase something on public Wi-Fi, look into a VPN to encrypt your connection, making it harder for cybercriminals to see what you’re up to.

Now that you’re browsing the web, you should be on the lookout for phony sites. Something key to lookout for is the URL. It should start with “https://” and a logo of a padlock next to the address bar. This is a good indication that your connection is encrypted, and the only people seeing your personal information are the people that you’re purchasing from.

It’s best to stick with well-known retailers or official brand websites. Some phony websites may try to look like more reputable sites with branding, and similar URLs. If you suspect a phony site, check the URL for misspellings, or dashes/underscores in interesting places. If you find something interesting from a lesser known site, read reviews and verify its legitimacy.

• Be Cautious with Apps – Shopping with apps can be convenient, but also just as risky as an illegitimate website. If you’re downloading an app, make sure it’s from official sources only, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Windows Store, etc… While tedious, it’s worth the time to review permissions and terms when downloading an app. You may be giving more than you originally bargained for.
• Be Aware of Holiday Scams – Cybercriminals capitalize on the holiday rush with scams that look too real. Some things to look out for are “too-good-to-be-true” deals. Some deals are good, too good… This can be used as a tactic to attract people with unbelievably low prices. Scammers will often use these to lure unsuspecting shoppers into willingly entering their information. Also be on the lookout for phishing emails. These are unsolicited emails offering exclusive deals or asking for personal information. Some phishing emails may pretend to be a reputable business, or someone you know. A quick way to spot this is by examining the sender’s email address. If it looks suspicious, with an unfamiliar ending or random characters, it’s most likely someone trying to scam you.

Pay Securely

Even how you pay can determine how protected your information is when shopping online. When you’re shopping online, and ready to pay, even if a site still looks all fine and dandy, it’s best to use your credit card versus a debit card, as they tend to offer better protection against fraud and theft.

If the site you’re buying from is deemed worthy, hopefully, they will have options like PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Utilizing these payment platforms minimizes the direct exposure of your financial details, essentially adding an extra layer of security to your purchasing habits.

Limit Sharing Personal Information

Some other best practices when shopping online, is to limit what you’re giving retailers access to. Only fill out the required information needed to make a purchase. All they should need is a shipping address, your name, and billing information. Maybe an email or phone number for tracking your order, but that’s it. Anything more than that, like your SSN or mother’s maiden name, they shouldn’t need, let alone ask for.

Oftentimes when making a purchase, retailers will ask for you to opt-in to receiving emails and texts regarding special deals, discounts, and seasonal sales. This can either look like a pop-up, or a little check box that appears above the “pay now” button. Oftentimes, this box will already be checked. That’s the retailers way of tricking you into granting them permission to send you those spammy emails.

Monitor Your Accounts

A good practice to get into is constantly monitoring your finances. You should regularly look at your bank statements for any unauthorized transactions. Even then, if you have an app or website you can look at to monitor your expenses, you should be checking that regularly as well. Sure, it can be scary sometimes to see how much money you actually have left in there, especially after a day of shopping. But you have to remember, that’s your money, the stuff you use to put food on the table, clothes on your back, and roof over your head. There should be no question about what’s going on in there, and if there is, it’s time to investigate.

Wrap it With a Bow

Holiday shopping should be a time of joy, not stress over cybersecurity threats. By following these tips, you can protect your personal and financial information, ensuring a safe and hassle-free shopping experience. Happy holidays and safe shopping!