black friday
By now, you’ve probably seen a ton of advertisements, heard commercials or noticed that your local shops have flipped the switch to that most wonderful time of the year. If you haven’t, well I envy you.
Let’s face it, we all love a great deal. Do you know who else loves all of these deals? Cyber criminals, this time of year is a prime opportunity for them to get their Grinch on.
With all of the great deals out there, it is almost impossible to avoid clicking and taking a look around without question. These criminals hope that you’ve let your guard down and won’t be doing your regular due diligence when clicking links or visiting websites – especially ones with HOT Dealz.
So how can you stay safe shopping online? Here are eight tips to help you keep you safe.
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- Avoid ransomware — don’t open email attachments from unknown shopping sites, and always back up your files.
- Be aware of phishing links — don’t click on unexpected links sent via email, SMS, or messengers.
- Create strong passwords — combine letters, number and special characters to make them harder to hack.
- Shop at safe sites — browse reviews before trusting online shopping sites with your credit card info.
- Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi — criminals love to snoop for your credentials in unsecure wireless networks.
- Turn off Bluetooth, connect via cellular — these simple steps will make your smartphone connection much more secure.
- Deny suspicious freeware — these ‘gifts’ might include adware or something even worse.
- Avoid forged shipping confirmation emails — it could be a phishers’ bait for a quick click.
At the end of the day, while these tips can help, it is up to you to make sure that you are going to the right sites. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. We can also help keep you safe year round on all of your devices with Kaspersky Internet Security.
