6 Cyber security tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to keep you safe

Like it or not, It’s that time of year again! Black Friday signifies the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season with the online sales extending through the weekend up till Cyber Monday.

E-commerce businesses are gearing up to rake in the cash as this year online shopping is set to rise by 18%. From this Visa estimates that nearly half (47%) of consumers will shop online this season and 33% of consumers shopping online will use smartphones and tablets for making their purchases.

 While businesses and the public alike are excited for this shopping spree, cyber criminals, on the other hand, are getting geared up to lure them in with their creative and frightening scams.

No need to worry! Here’s 6 Cyber security tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to keep you safe.

1) Be aware when using public WiFi as this poses a major security risk

Lets start with an obvious one! Do not use public WiFi for sensitive activities such as online shopping, as they pose a major security alert. Free WiFi networks are a hacker’s dream due to a lack of proactive security.

2) Make sure the E commerce website you’re shopping on has an ‘HTTPS’ connection with a valid encryption certificate

Data sent over a regular HTTP connection is in plain text and therefore can be read by any hacker looking to exploit you. (HTTPS) is the secure ‘bigger brother’ version of HTTP, where everything is encrypted.

3) Be careful about offers online – if it sounds too good to be true, well, you know the rest!

Beware of deals that sound too good to be true as let’s face it, you’re going to get scammed! Fraudsters pretend to be legitimate online sellers by using a fake website or posting a fake ad that looks too tempting to resist.

4) Keep changing your passwords.

Make sure you use unique passwords for different websites. It really is not a good idea to use something like ‘password123’ for every Ecommerce website you use. Make use of passwords that are complex and varied in nature.

5) Think before you click

Be cautious when clicking on any unknown links. Delete the emails that seem suspicious or are from unknown sources immediately to remove temptation. Scammers use emails to send out shopping deals or discount coupons that look genuine, but they are not.

6) Check the details of an E-commerce app before downloading

Always download mobile apps from official app stores or the official website of the E-commerce retailer. Be cautious of what information or permissions are being requested before you download. Avoid downloading apps from third party sites as you’ve guessed it – fraudsters create apps that look as if they are associated with the real brand.

Questions? please feel free to contact me