Protect Yourself from Digital Theft this Holiday Season

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Holiday Shopping Protection

Publish Date

November 21, 2019

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The holiday shopping season is upon us with Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner.

We want our message to be loud and clear: Be wise to holiday phishing scams when choosing to shop and buy online. Malicious ad campaigns could be lurking on e-commerce websites, and fraudulent emails containing scams or nefarious links could be hitting your inbox.

Warning signs of a phishing email:

  1. Phony sender email addresses (don’t trust the display name – and always check the full email address)
  2. Suspicious links (hover over a link without clicking to reveal the destination URL)
  3. Spelling errors (attackers tend to be grammatically incorrect)
  4. Requests for personal information (legitimate companies do not typically ask for this over email)
  5. Malicious attachments (trust your gut and never open a questionable attachment)

 

Be Proactive

Be prepared by setting up multi-factor authentication wherever possible for your most frequently used accounts. Examples include banking apps, payment sites (like PayPal: How to set up 2FA) and e-commerce sites (such as Amazon: How to set up 2FA). This will help protect your accounts from theft and prevent a breach of your private data.

Another way to stay secure is to only visit sites you trust. All reputable shopping websites will have a secure URL that includes HTTPS, as well as a lock symbol in the upper left of the URL address bar. Visual reference below.

Secure site lock icon

Wishing you all a safe and warm holiday season.

 

By Phillip Jackson, Chief Information Officer at Arctic IT