Online fraud spikes during the holiday shopping season, as
people searching for the perfect gifts take to cyberspace and head to
traditional stores armed with their smartphones.
"The
Pandora's box of cyberattacks is about to open," says Pete Tyrrell,
chief operating officer for Digital Guardian, a Waltham,
Massachusetts-based data protection firm. "The cybercriminals are
getting more and more creative — and at the end of the day, it's your
personal information at risk."
Here are some tips for protecting yourself and your information from online Grinches.
1. Beware of gifts of free WiFi
It's
awful tempting to sign on to a store's free WiFi while you're out
shopping, especially since store walls are notorious for blocking or
weakening smartphone data connections. But fraudsters also may be
lurking on the networks, ready to use that connection to steal credit
card or other personal information.
"People may want to log on to
their Best Buy or Amazon accounts to check prices, but open WiFi is
probably the least secure place to do that," says Michael Kaiser,
executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance.
And
never use open WiFi connections to check bank account information. The
last thing you want a hacker to have is a direct connection to your bank
account.
2. Swim away from potential phish
Phishing
spikes during the holiday season. Emails that offer great deals on
holiday gifts or donation pitches from charities could actually be
attempts to steal your credit card or login information. Another popular
trick: fake emails supposedly sent by online retailers or shippers such
as FedEx or UPS, saying that a payment for an order didn't go through,
or that an order didn't ship.
Don't click on links in these
emails. It could contain malware or take you to a fake website that
looks very much like that of a legitimate company. Instead of getting
help, you'll most likely have your personal information stolen.
Panic
over the possibility of not getting a gift in time can make people
click before they think, Kaiser says. So, it's best to slow down. If you
think an email is genuine, just go directly to the company in
question's main website.
3. Check your accounts for "naughty" activity
Both
during and after the holidays, shoppers need to keep a close eye on
their accounts. The easiest way to do this is to use the same credit
card for all of your holiday shopping. Never use your debit card; if
hackers get ahold of your number, they could clean out your bank
account.
A dedicated email account can also help keep things organized.
It's
also a good idea to use different user names and different passwords
for your various shopping accounts. That way if one is compromised, it's
less likely that the others will fall to hackers as well, says Tim
Francis, the head of "cyber insurance" policies at Travelers.
4. If it looks too good to be true ...
Websites
and emails that advertise hot deals on popular or hard-to-find gifts,
along with free or deeply discounted gift cards, are probably scams. "I
still haven't been able to buy an iPad for $7," Tyrrell joked.
Shopping
on the websites of companies you've previously done business with can
also save you time and hassle, says Steve Platt, a vice president at
credit monitoring company Experian.
Online retailers will be on
the lookout for fraudsters too. That means they might be more likely to
flag a transaction — and slow down your shopping — if they haven't dealt
with you before.
"The more information they know about you and your purchases, the more likely you'll have a seamless experience," Platt says.
source: http://goo.gl/DztyQ7
5:47 AM
Vinay Singh
