Staying safe becomes very important during the purchasing excitement that takes people over. It’s much easier to stay safe in the first place than it is to take back a compromised transaction. Preventing hacking can also save you from your financial information or your privacy being breached.
Follow these critical safety tips to make sure you stay safe during holiday shopping.
Check for Device Updates Before You Shop
Computers, tablets, and smartphones that run on old software are vulnerable. A ten minute iPhone update may be tiresome, but you need to do it for security.
Hackers look for vulnerabilities in device operating systems, which are far more frequent in older system. Updates install patches for each vulnerability found, reducing your risk. By installing updates before using your device for online shopping, you block as many problems as possible.
Don’t Go to Websites from Email Links
While it’s annoying to have to type in “amazon.com”, it’s much safer than. Phishing scams through email are at an all-time high this time of year. If the link you click inside an email links to a malicious site, you’ve started an auto download of malware.
Avoid clicking links send by email or text. Instead visit the website directly. To make things easier, save sites as shopping bookmarks in your browser. Doing so is far safer than clicking a text or email link.
Use a Wallet App Where Possible
Giving your debit or credit card to a website is always risky. The risk shoots even higher whenever doing holiday shopping on a site you haven’t purchased from before.
Wherever possible, complete the transaction using a wallet app or PayPal. Using the wallet eliminates the need to submit your card details directly to the merchant. Instead, you share them with the wallet app service (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, etc.). But the retailer doesn’t get them.
Remove Any Saved Payment Cards After Checking Out
Many websites (including Amazon) save your payment card details. This is a bad option. Yes, it often makes the next purchase more convenient, but it always puts you at risk. Hackers with access to your device or account could make purchases.
The retailer could also suffer a data breach, exposing your details to criminals. These data breaches are alarmingly common and often leak sensitive customer payment information. The fewer databases you allow to store your card details, the better for your security overall.
Immediately after you check out, remove your payment card from the site. You will usually need to go to your account settings to do this.
Make Sure the Site Uses HTTPS (Emphasis on “S”)
HTTPS has become the standard for websites now. This advanced from of “HTTP” without the “S” on the end. HTTPS means that a website encrypts the data transmitted through the site. Data such as your name, address, and bank information.
You should NEVER shop on a website missing that all important HTTPS in the address bar. An extra indicator to look out for is a small lock icon in front of the website address.
Double Check the Site URL
We all make typos from time to time. Especially when typing on a small smartphone screen. One typo can land you on a copycat site (such as Amazonn(dot)com).
Hackers buy domains that are close to the real ones for popular retailers. Then, they put up copycat sites designed to fool users that make a mistake when typing the URL.
Take those extra few seconds to double-check that you’ve landed on the correct website. Do this before you start shopping.
Never Shop Online When on Public Wi-Fi
When you connect your device to public Wi-Fi, you might as well expect a stranger to be stalking you. Hackers LOVE the holiday shopping season and will hang out in popular public Wi-Fi spots.
They spy on the activities of other devices connected to that same free hotspot. This can give them access to everything you type in. Such as passwords and credit card information.
Never shop online when you’re connected to a public Wi-Fi network. Instead, switch off Wi-Fi and move to your mobile carrier’s connection.
Be On High Alert for Brand Impersonation Emails & Texts
Phishing scammers were very active during the holiday shopping season of 2021. There was a 397% increase in typo-squatting domains connected to phishing attacks.
While you need to be careful all the time about phishing, it’s even worse during the holiday season. Attackers know that people are expecting retailer holiday sales emails. They also get a flurry of order confirmations and shipping notices this time of year.
Hackers use these emails as templates. They impersonate brands like Target, UPS, Amazon, and others. Their emails look nearly identical to the real thing. They trick you to get you to click and/or log in to a malicious website.
Be on high alert for brand impersonation emails. This is another reason why it’s always better to go to a site directly, rather than by using an email link.
Enable Banking Alerts & Check Your Account
Check your bank account regularly. Look for any suspicious charges that could signal a breach. One way to automate a monitoring process is to set up banking alerts through your online banking app.
For example, many banks allow you to set up alerts for events such as:
- When a purchase occurs over a specified dollar amount
- When a purchase occurs from outside the country
Why Is This Published By A Business Phone Company?
Here at NoContractVoIP, we believe that your success is our success. And, since we specialize in business communication, we also want to help you communicate better. We create the communication systems that modern companies need to adapt to the hybrid and remote business models. To get the latest helpful content delivered to your inbox every month, subscribe to our newsletter here.
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