The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
As the Christmas shopping rush and Manila’s monstrous traffic convince more Filipinos that it is better to shop online than head to the malls, Internet-security company Kaspersky Lab shares eight simple tips to avoid getting suckered by online scams this season.
It warns that this time of the year is a prime opportunity for cybercriminals to become Grinches.
With all the great online deals out there, it is almost impossible to avoid clicking and taking a look without question. These criminals hope that you let your guard down and won’t be doing your regular due diligence when clicking on links or visiting websites.
How can you stay safe shopping online? Here are eight tips:
1. Ho-ho-hold off ransomware. The best defense against ransomware is to avoid it in the first place. Never open e-mail attachments from unknown shopping sites, and always back up your files. Twenty-three percent of new malware threats detected by Kaspersky Lab in the first quarter of 2015 were created to steal or extort money.
2. Delete unexpected texts/e-mails delivering unwanted gifts. Phishing scams can happen anywhere. Avoid clicking on unexpected links sent via e-mail, SMS, or online messengers.
3. Passwords are not gifts. Make them tough to open. Create complex passwords to online shopping sites. Combine letters, numbers and special characters to make them harder to hack.
4. Find safe sites for holiday shopping. Browse reviews of online shopping sites before trusting them with your credit-card information. A Kaspersky Lab’s survey on the topic shows that 65 percent of users are afraid of fraud when making payments online.
5. Avoid Grinches watching public wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) Internet. Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi, where cybercriminals love to snoop for your credentials in unsecure wireless networks. Another Kaspersky Lab study shows that almost half of mobile users expose their information to unsafe public Wi-Fi every day.
6. Wrap up your smartphone. Turn off your Bluetooth to avoid cybersnooping and connect via cellular before you use your mobile phone to shop online. These simple steps will make your smartphone connection much more secure. Kaspersky Lab detected 323,374 new mobile malware programs in the third quarter of 2015. That’s a 10.8-percent increase from the figure posted in the previous quarter.
7. Deny adware that redecorates your desktop. Downloading freeware for your purchase? Be sure to read the fine print. It might include accepting adware advertising add-ons to toolbars and browsers. A third Kaspersky Lab survey shows that 54 percent of Internet users are annoyed by adware.
8. Make a “purchased list” and check it twice. Be absolutely sure that your shipping confirmation is for legitimate purchases. It could be a cybercriminal phishing for a quick click.
While these tips can help, it is up to you to make sure that you are going to the right sites. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.