How to stay safe online this Cyber Monday
Cybercriminals view Cyber Monday as a prime opportunity to scam unsuspecting consumers. With a huge increase in e-commerce activity, the odds that shoppers will be tricked into clicking on malicious links, sharing sensitive account information with cybercriminals, and sending money to fraudulent “companies” rise dramatically.
Consumers are expected to spend over $11 billion on Cyber Monday, and they’ll spend much more time scouring the Internet for deals than they usually do. At a time when consumers face unprecedented cyberthreats, here are several ways to shop safely this year:
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Beware of phishing. In all digital communications, look out for links that differ from domain names, unnecessary attachments, urgent demands for sensitive information, misspelled words, and sentences or phrases that don’t make sense.
Improve your credential security. Always use a password manager and avoid sharing account credentials. Make sure to change your passwords upon receiving login notifications that you didn’t initiate, and never accept an authentication request that wasn’t generated by your own login attempt.
Be careful shopping while traveling. Never provide sensitive information (even to legitimate websites) if you’re using unsecured public WiFi, as hackers can easily intercept that information. Instead, use a VPN when you’re on the road. Read More: How to Stay Cybersecure While Traveling
Avoid third-party websites. Clicking on banner ads and other third-party messages tempting you with low prices is a mistake. Ensure you’re on a legitimate retailer’s website before providing personal information or inputting your credit card number.
Don’t let your guard down after Cyber Monday. It may be a long time before you realize that one of your accounts was breached – your information might show up in a major data leak, or you may receive a fraudulent login request months later. This is why cyber-awareness is critical year-round.
While Cyber Monday presents many unique cyberthreats, the principles of cybersecurity remain the same at all times. The deception and exploitation of human beings is still the operative factor in the vast majority of successful breaches, which means educated consumers will always be capable of defending themselves.
