Tips: Keep Your Identity Safe On Cyber Monday

Timberline Interactive predicts that online holiday sales will increase by 15 percent this year. It’s a good bet that one of the busiest days of online shopping will be “Cyber Monday,” the Monday after Thanksgiving, when many online retailers have enticing sales. With increased online shopping, of course, come increased opportunities for hackers intent on identity theft. Todd Feinman, CEO of Identity Finder, shared some tips for keeping your personal information secure on Cyber Monday.

Before you make any purchases on Cyber Monday, make sure all your software is up to date. It’s tempting to keep clicking “ignore,” swearing you’ll download those updates later, but you really shouldn’t. As soon as these patches come out, hackers use them to reverse-engineer methods for getting into the computers that haven’t been updated. And it’s not just for your operating system and browser; an outdated version of a plug-in such as Flash can act as a portal that lets identity-stealing viruses onto your computer. Around Cyber Monday, these sites tend to take the form of sale “preview” sites, claiming to provide advance ads or coupon codes for the sales while actually infecting your computer.

Make sure you’re shopping over a secure connection. While you’re checking out, double-check the URL. Does it begin with https? Good; that extra “s” means it’s a secure connection. Another way to tell if your connection is secure is to look for the tiny padlock icon. In Internet Explorer and Firefox, it’s in the bottom right corner; in Chrome it’s right next to the URL. Shopping on an unsecured connection makes it easy for hackers to steal your information, even if you’re on a legitimate website.

Remember that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Sometimes, malicious sites will advertise the year’s hard-to-get “it” item -- the iPad, for example, or the Xbox Kinect -- at an unbelievable price, asking you, as many sites do, to make a username and password in order to purchase. Not only will you not get the good at the great price, but also those behind the site can then take that same username-password combination and try it at banks across the country with the hope that you use the same set of passwords everywhere.

There are two corollaries to this. The first is to make sure you use different passwords for every website. Though it sounds unreasonable, given that almost every site these days wants you to become a member, a password manager is a great tool for keeping track of this plethora of passwords. It securely tracks of all your passwords across the Web, requiring from you only one password to unlock it.

The second is to consider using a onetime-use credit card. Most banks will issue you a card number good for only one transaction. If you do accidentally use it on a malicious site, you’re only out the cost of the good; not your whole bank account.

About the Author

Laura Williams is content development editor for Security Products magazine.

Featured

  • Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Analytics to Enhance Parking Intelligence

    Mall of America®, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America, announced an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Axis Communications to deploy cutting-edge car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. With this expansion, Mall of America (MOA) has boosted operational efficiency, improved safety and security, and enabled more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation for large events. Read Now

  • Security Industry Association Launches New “askSIA” AI Tool

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) has unveiled a brand-new SIA member benefit – askSIA, a conversational AI agent designed to help users get the most out of their SIA membership, easily access SIA resources and find the latest information on SIA’s training and courses, reports and publications, events, certification offerings and more. SIA members can easily find askSIA by visiting the SIA homepage or looking for the askSIA icon in the top left of webpages. Read Now

    • Industry Events
  • Industry Embraces Mobile Access, Biometrics and AI

    A combination of evolving workplace dynamics, technology innovation and new user expectations is changing how people enter and interact with physical spaces. Access control is at the heart of these changes. Combined with biometrics and AI, mobile access control has become increasingly crucial for deploying entry solutions that are seamless, secure and adaptive to user needs. Read Now

  • Sustainable Video Solution Delivered for Landmark City of London Office Development

    An advanced, end-to-end video solution from IDIS, with a focus on reducing waste and costs, has helped a major office development in the City of London align its security with sustainability objectives. Read Now

  • DHS to End ‘Shoes-Off’ Travel Policy

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a new policy today which will allow passengers traveling through domestic airports to keep their shoes on while passing through security screening at TSA checkpoints. Read Now

New Products

  • Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems, an industry-leading manufacturer of pedestrian and vehicle secure entrance control access systems, is pleased to announce the release of its groundbreaking V07 software. The V07 software update is designed specifically to address cybersecurity concerns and will ensure the integrity and confidentiality of Automatic Systems applications. With the new V07 software, updates will be delivered by means of an encrypted file.

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.