Safely Shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday [Infographic]

The holiday shopping season is the busiest time of year. Finding the perfect gift is on everyone’s to do list.

Some of us have made it a tradition to go Black Friday shopping every year.  Others are starting to do shopping online for holiday deals.

USA Today’s Byron Acohido has warned about the increasingly aggressive efforts made by cybercriminals to prey on Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers.

Digital crooks are bombarding emails, social media sites, and search results with corrupted links that lead to a scam that will infect your PC with malware.

Fake delivery confirmations from FedEx, UPS, Amazon, and Walmart may appear in your inbox which are likely to be phishing scams.

Did you know:

• 56% of people say that they only shop online at websites they know are safe
• 64% of people say that they have protection software installed and updated on their computers
• 54% of people are familiar with phishing emails
• 21% of respondents use an identity monitoring service to stay updated on their security identity status

Here is an infographic with tips on how to protect yourself during the shopping season.

[Via: IdentityHawk.com identity theft]

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References:

Shop Safe on Black Friday & Cyber Monday: 10 Tips to Protect Yourself While Shopping this Holiday Season [Infographic] – Identity Hawk
http://www.identityhawk.com/cyber-monday-black-friday-shopping-identity-theft-infographic

Careful What You Click, Cybercriminals Preying on Black Friday, Cyber Monday Shoppers – Hot HardWare
http://hothardware.com/News/Careful-What-You-Click-Cybercriminals-Preying-on-Black-Friday-Cyber-Monday-Shoppers/

Tis’ the Season for Cyberscams

Cyberscammers are out aiming for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers.

Thieves feed off of money and this next week their will be a lot of that going around.  Everyone is anxious to get the best deal and the lowest prices, even though they may eventually spend more than anticipated.

But a deal is a deal, right?

Cybercriminals are concentrating on mobile devices and social media this year to see where all the shoppers are going.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday right around the corner; cybercriminals have begun to invade e-mails, social media postings and search results with infected website links and offers for worthless products.

 

Phishing Scheme

Cybercriminals count on one in every 10 prospects of holiday-themed phishing scams to click on the corrupted link, or fill out fake forms handing over your personal data.

“We’re human; we’re compelled to click,” says David Knight, Proofpoint executive vice president. “And we’re even more human during the holiday season.”

Out of 10 million shopping transactions made in the past six months, 25% are from mobile devices, 10% on tablets and 14% from smartphones.

Smartphones are the least secure for purchasing anything.  Signifyd a fraud protection and chargeback prevention company for e-commerce, discovered that 1.3% of e-commerce sales on phones are fraudulent.

This is compared with 0.8% of sales on desktops and 0.5% from tablets.

Be sure to create different passwords for all your accounts.  This could be the extra security you need to protect your personal information from being taken.  This shopping season, it’s okay to be a little paranoid, at least you are being attentive in case someone is trying to gain your trust unworthily.

A few sites worth checking out are Hotspot Shield and TunnelBear, free virtual private networks that establish a secure tunnel between your computing device and the internet.  All your information remains inside the tunnel, which will protect your computer or mobile device from malware or phishing scams.

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References:

Cyberscammers take aim at Black Friday, Cyber Monday – USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/cybertruth/2013/11/26/mobile-scams-key-off-black-friday-cyber-monday/3686047/