‘Tis the Season for Online Shopping & Cybercrime

It’s the season for online holiday shopping and cybercrime. Baan Alsinawi, Founder and President of TalaTek, highlights several proactive measures online shoppers can take to stay safe, avoid hackers, and enjoy the holiday shopping experience.

The 2020 holiday season promises to be vastly different than years past.

At a time when most people look forward to being with family and friends, many will opt for smaller gatherings, virtual holiday feasts, and limited travel to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. 

According to Deloitte’s 2020 holiday retail survey, Opens a new window  more people will also shop online rather than head to malls and stores to make holiday purchases. The survey found that people still want to make the season special for family and friends. However, tempering their pleasure is their anxiety over shopping in person because of virus-related concerns: 51 percent of holiday shoppers reported this unease, and 65 percent responded that they prefer to shop online to avoid crowds. Deloitte says this will likely translate into more online purchases, with sales amounting to between $182 billion and $196 billion—a 14.7 percent expected to increase over 2019. 

As Cyber Monday is projected to surpass Black Friday, online merchants are doing what they can to attract these shoppers: emailing out special offers, creating holiday apps that give shoppers deals, and developing other internet-based incentives. 

Unfortunately, bad actors and cyber crooks are also taking note of the influx of online bargain hunters and browsers and target them with phishing campaigns and other scams designed to mimic legitimate offerings. Unsuspecting or hurried online shoppers who click or download infected links, attachments, or apps may enable hackers to infiltrate their computer systems and mobile devices or obtain credit card or bank account numbers. 

Learn More: Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure to Worsen in 2021: Here’s How to Protect Your Data

Luckily, there are several proactive measures online shoppers can take to stay safe, avoid hackers, and enjoy the holiday shopping experience.

1. Thoroughly vet all emails containing attachments or links with coupons or discounts: ’Tis the season for inboxes full of emails touting special offers — suitable for a limited time only! But is the email really from the retailer it claims to be? Called phishing campaigns, hackers create emails that look like they come from real businesses and embed harmful links and attachments that contain viruses or malware. Some include links that prompt recipients to enter passwords or credit card or bank account numbers. Before clicking the link or downloading anything, always inspect the entire email. Type the link into a browser to see what comes up. Have you subscribed to the sender’s emails in the past, or is this from a new or unexpected source? Does the sender’s email address look legitimate? Are there misspelled words in the email body? Does the offer seem too good to be true? When in doubt, hit delete. 

2. Don’t shop online using unsecured public WiFi: It’s tempting to take advantage of free WiFi offered by restaurants, coffee shops, and libraries—even when sitting in a parking lot or waiting in a carry-out line. However, cybercrooks can also take advantage of these unsecured networks, positioning themselves between users and the connection point, accessing passwords, user IDs, and all the information they send out over the internet. They can also commandeer the unsecured connection to launch a malware or spam attack or redirect users to a fake webpage to get personal information. When using public WiFi, stay safe by avoiding social or websites that require logins or financial information. Don’t check bank accounts or credit card balances that need entering sensitive information. And create strong passwords with different passwords for every online account.  

3. Monitor bank accounts and credit card statements: Get in the habit of checking bank and credit card statements both during the busy buying season and for months afterward to make sure all online transactions align with actual online purchases. Bad actors can use the financial information shoppers provide while making purchases to rob accounts. If possible, limit online purchases to one credit card so it’s easier to keep track and check bank fraud policies that can offer protection against unauthorized withdrawals or purchases. Some banks offer alerts via text or email on what appear to be unusual credit card activity.

4. Keep an eye out for fraudulent websites. One of the fun things about shopping online is exploring new vendors offering unusual items from the comfort of home. However, be aware that these sites could be phony, designed by hackers to imitate a legitimate business. Check the URL to see if it is spelled correctly. Look for other signs that something is off, such as misspelled words or requests to enter personal information. It can also be dangerous to enter credit card information on unsecured websites. Be sure the website’s URL begins with HTTPS instead of HTTP; the S stands for secure and indicates the website has a secure sockets layer connection that ensures information will be encrypted before being sent to a server. Also, look for a lock icon in the browser window next to the web address. Click on the icon to see detailed information about the site’s authenticity.

Learn More: How to Secure Retail Apps During the Holiday Rush

5. Enable multifactor authentication (MFA): Always opt for MFA when creating profiles and accounts for online stores (after first checking that the site is legitimate, as described in step 4). This will make it harder for bad actors to gain access to personal and confidential stored information.

6. Be wary of downloading holiday apps. Lots of people count on holiday apps to help them organize tasks, find restaurants, search recipe databases, receive special deals from their favorite online retailer, entertain bored children—the list is endless. Cybercriminals can lure distracted shoppers with enticing but fake apps that claim to provide these services but are actually designed to obtain the user’s personal information and account credentials. Apps can also contain adware that floods a device with intrusive or malicious ads or even replaces the downloaded app with a different harmful version. Always research new apps, including games, before downloading them to personal devices. Check user reviews and be suspicious of granting permissions that the app shouldn’t require; a shopping app doesn’t need to read or write text messages or access a phone. Go directly to a retailer’s website instead of clicking on links embedded in apps.

So make an online shopping list and check it twice and add these tips to find out who’s naughty or nice.

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