Security as a Process

The Black Friday madness is finally here and a number of top brands have gone live with their deals

The day after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and despite a worldwide pandemic, shoppers spent a record $ 9 billion on Black Friday back in 2020, an increase of 21.6% over the previous year, according to Adobe Analytics.That way when it comes to Black Friday, you’ll be able to tell straight away if retailers have pumped up the prices immediately prior to the sale to allow them to 'reduce' them and give the appearance of a bargain.

Research by price comparison site PriceRunner, seen exclusively by The Sun, has found that more than every fourth offer on Black Friday last year was fake. The site's definition of a fake offer is when a retailer increases the price by at least 10% in the period ahead of Black Friday to then reduce it by 5% or more. The research shows how alert shoppers need to be to dud deals while shopping on Black Friday. For example, if you snapped up a printer during the sale bonanza last year, you'll be disappointed to know that 63% of the "offers" were actually fake, according to the research.

Ovens, microwaves, tablets, and monitors were also among the categories with the highest amount of bogus deals.

Be wary of 'was' prices. Claims such as 'was ￡100, now ￡50' are abundant on Black Friday. But don't let these 'anchor prices' mislead you.? Retailers shout about savings - often in red to grab attention - as a way of influencing customers and they can be quite misleading.? If you look at items on special offer across major retailers for the first half of 2020, you can find that several products were listed at their lower price for longer than they were at their full 'was' price.?

Also, it's easy to find retailers using old RRPs (recommended retail prices) as 'was' prices, so they reflect the value of the item when it was first released, not its current value. ? And Amazon displays every price reduction as if it was a promotion, so even a price drop as small as 1p will be flagged as a discount. Rather than automatically trusting anchor prices, it's better to check against other shops' prices to try to work out the true value of the item you're buying.

We can’t wait to go crazy during the Black Friday sales! But be careful because, during this holiday shopping season, scammers have prepared lots of tricky scam websites — aiming to ruin the fun.

With online banking and shopping offering greater convenience, more and more people are using the Internet to conduct financial transactions and make purchases. However, cybercriminals are capitalising on opportunities to steal consumers’ passwords, identities, and money. And with all that money flowing from one wallet to another, cybercriminals will, unfortunately, look for a way to get a piece. Although scammers work year-round, they look to exploit the spirit of giving, which proves lucrative.

Scammers don't take time off during the holidays. Here's what to look out for and how you can protect yourself

As Christmas approaches these deals couldn't have come at a more perfect time as we shop for fashion and beauty items to fill those stockings up or gift to our loved ones. You will be bombarding you with masses of the best of the bunch in the fashion and beauty world, electronics, and much more so expect plenty of deals worth considering. While you can expect absolute hysteria on the high street over the next few days, we thought it would be best to bring you all the important things regarding doing deal online safety.?

Check the URL When you’re visiting a web page that needs you to enter confidential data, carefully check that the address of the page that’s shown on the browser corresponds with the page that you were intending to access. If the URL is made up of a random selection of letters and numbers — or it looks suspicious — do not input any information.

Use encryption Make sure that you use an encrypted connection, whenever you need to input any confidential data. If a connection is secure, the URL will start with the letters ‘https’ — in addition, the address bar or the browser’s status bar will display a small icon of a lock. When you click on the lock icon, look closely at the information about the SSL authentication certificate that has been issued to the site (you’ll be able to note when the certificate was issued, who issued it, and for what period the certificate was issued).

Use your own computer- and your own Internet connection(StarLink:) Try to avoid using public computers — in Internet cafes, airports, clubs, hotels, libraries or other locations — when you need to access online banking services or online retailers. These public computers may have a variety of spyware programs running on them. If so, these malicious programs could record everything you type on the keyboard — including your passwords — and also intercept Internet traffic.

Even if you use your own computer for online transactions, you need to avoid connecting to the Internet via a public Wi-Fi network. On a public Wi-Fi network, there is a risk that the traffic might be intercepted by the network’s administrator or by cybercriminals — and attacks might be launched with network worms.

Don’t use your main credit card or debit card You might benefit from having a special card that you only use for online purchases. It may be possible to restrict the credit limit for your ‘online credit card’ or to hold a limited amount of money on your ‘online debit card’.

Learn from other people’s experiences Before making a purchase online, try to read customer reviews about that specific retailer. Be equally aware of upvote hijacking, which is when companies target the most flattering reviews with a barrage of positive engagement to lift them to the top of the customer feedback section.

Maintain your firewall For additional security, instead of just running a standard firewall, you may choose to run application and software-based firewalls.

Avoid the 'Secret Sister' gift exchange -- it's a pyramid scheme

Originating on Facebook, this sketchy gift exchange among internet strangers plays off the popular workplace practice of "Secret Santa," a game where each person in a group buys a present for one other randomly selected group member, without the gift-giver revealing their identity.?

Instead, in Secret Sister, it's a pyramid scheme dressed up in holiday clothes, according to the Better Business Bureau. The "Secret Sister" exchange invitation promises you'll receive about $360 worth of gifts after purchasing and mailing a $10 gift for someone else. A variation includes swapping bottles of wine. And there's even "Secret Santa Dog," in which you gift money to a "secret dog."

Unfortunately, bad math hasn't stopped this scam from resurfacing year after year. If you fall for it, you'll probably be out 10 bucks when you don't receive any gifts in return and you may lose personal details too because the scam involves sending your name, email address, and phone number to people you've never met in person.

So before you rush into impulse-buying a discounted coffee machine, tv or bed, just be sure on how to work out if a deal is real.

Because You may even pick up a Christmas present for a special someone for a fraction of the price, or an early present for yourself - why not?- and of course, play it safe