Cyber Monday Security Tips For Online Shoppers

Black Friday has always been associated with hectic shopping days and fighting (sometimes literally) for great deals. However, in recent years there has been a greater push to extend Black Friday deals to e-commerce. It started as ‘Cyber Monday’ but now most retailers offer online deals through the entire weekend. While you may avoid the long lines and hectic atmosphere of Black Friday shopping by shopping online, you become at-risk to cybersecurity threats. Learning some Cyber Monday security tips can help you avoid these threats.

Avoid Public WiFi

With everyone carrying around a smartphone, it’s common for people to take care of their Cyber Monday shopping while on the go. While this is convenient, it may open you up to cybersecurity threats. Many people make the mistake of logging into a public WiFi connection before they do their shopping. Public WiFi networks are a huge target for hackers due to their lack of security and population of potential victims.

If you are planning on shopping on the go, make sure you are logged into a secure WiFi network that you are familiar with. If you absolutely must use an unsecured WiFi connection – make sure that you utilize a virtual private network or VPN. A VPN will help protect your private data and anonymity no matter what WiFi connection you use.

HTTPS & Valid Encryption Certificates

Another important one of our Cyber Monday security tips is to make sure that the web address starts with HTTPS rather than HTTP when shopping online. HTTPS websites have a secured connection between your browser and a website, where HTTP is not properly encrypted for today’s security standards. HTTPS connections require a valid SSL certificate, so they are much safer to trust.

Keep Your Passwords Fresh & Complicated

Most Cyber Monday shoppers visit multiple websites for different purchases in order to find the best deals. E-commerce stores usually allow you to make an account in order to make faster purchases in the future. Many shoppers make the mistake of using the same, simplistic password across all of the websites they shop from. This allows a hacker who discovers one website’s password to get into your other accounts and cause more financial damage. Make sure you use unique passwords that are difficult to guess for each website. This is one of the more helpful Cyber Monday security tips as well as something you should keep in mind all year long.

Too Good To Be True

Since Cyber Monday sales offer deep discounts, scammers often use impossibly great deals to lure shoppers into a trap. During the normal shopping season, it’s easier to tell when a fake advertisement is offering an impossibly low price. Since it’s less apparent with Cyber Monday sales, you need to stay alert. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Think Twice

Cyber Monday deals often bring shoppers to way more websites that they would normally go to. It can feel like we are being pulled across the entire internet while searching for the best deals. Due to the number of options we face, it is much easier to click on a link or a visit a website that we otherwise would have avoided. Always think twice before clicking anything this season.

Credit, Not Debit

Another one of our Cyber Monday security tips is to avoid using a debit card. Whenever making an online purchase, you should be using a credit card. There are more security measures for credit cards and it is easier to get your money back from a fraudulent charge than with debit cards. You don’t want to start off the holiday season with your entire debit account wiped out.

Limit The Information You Give

When you make an online purchase, you will need to put in some basic information such as your credit card number and billing address. However, some websites will ask for more, which you should avoid at all costs. For a simple E-commerce login, you shouldn’t have to create/answer security and privacy questions. If a website requires this, they may want the information for malicious purposes.

The Ultimate Cyber Monday Security Tips

These tech safety tips will only get you so far this Cyber Monday. For the ultimate protection, get in touch with IT experts. Bay Computing & Consulting Services is a team of highly trained and experienced IT professionals ready to help you out. Our Remote IT Services can solve your tech issues no matter where you are.

We are here to help you with your technology issue when you need us. We will give your home or business computer the full treatment while we safeguard your network. We also offer consultations where we can identify security gaps and educate on the best safety practices. Whether you are a big business or just a PC owner, we have you covered. Contact us today!