Don't Get Grinched By Cybercrime During The Holiday Season

NEW YORK (AP) — Online fraud spikes during the holiday shopping season, as people searching for the perfect gifts take to cyberspace and head to traditional stores armed with their smartphones. "The Pandora's box of cyberattacks is about to open," says Pete Tyrrell, chief operating officer for Digital Guardian, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based data protection firm. "People may want to log on to their Best Buy or Amazon accounts to check prices, but open Wi-Fi is probably the least secure place to do that," says Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. If you're tech-savvy enough to use VPN software — short for "virtual private network," a technique for shutting would-be eavesdroppers out of your connection — on your phone, then free Wi-Fi is safe so long as you have the VPN on. Shoppers also need to be on the lookout for less high-tech thieves when shopping online in crowded public places like coffee shops, says Nitin Bhandari, senior vice president for products at Opera Software Solutions. Emails that offer great deals on holiday gifts or donation pitches from charities could actually be attempts to steal your credit card or login information. Another popular trick: fake emails supposedly sent by online retailers or shippers such as FedEx or UPS, saying that a payment for an order didn't go through, or that an order didn't ship. Shopping on the websites of companies you've previously done business with can also save you time and hassle, says Steve Platt, a vice president at credit monitoring company Experian.

 

Welcome to Wopular!

Welcome to Wopular

Wopular is an online newspaper rack, giving you a summary view of the top headlines from the top news sites.

Senh Duong (Founder)
Wopular, MWB, RottenTomatoes

Subscribe to Wopular's RSS Fan Wopular on Facebook Follow Wopular on Twitter Follow Wopular on Google Plus

MoviesWithButter : Our Sister Site

More World News