Many of you reading this will already have grown to hate that two word phrase ‘Black Friday’. It’s a retail sales bonanza we seem to have inherited from the United States, and it officially starts in less than 24 hours. It will be followed by ‘Cyber Monday’, the online discount day that focuses mostly on fashion sales.
With discount deals being offered by retail outlets across the globe, online shoppers come out in their droves, eager to pick up a few pre-Christmas bargains. But where there is Christmas money floating around, there are criminals floating around to siphon off some of that festive cash. And where there is cyber money, there are very sophisticated cyber criminals.
“Cyber criminals these days are highly organised and they will have been planning campaigns since last year. They will have put together new tactics, new techniques which they will refine as they come closer to Christmas based on, for example, fashion, what is in the news, anything that can psychologically hook people to falling in for one of their ruses.”
So said Paul C Dwyer, CEO of Cyber Risk International, speaking on Today with Sean O’Rourke.
The tricks of the trade, he says, are unsolicited e-mails from websites you may well recognise, even websites of online places where you regularly shop. If you click into these e-mails, they may lead you to a “clone website”, which looks exactly like the one you are used to, but has been created by a cyber criminal.
The way around this? “Type in the name of the store’s URL, the address.” In other words, do it yourself! Don’t just click your way to retail therapy.
In many cases, the old rules of traditional shopping apply just as well in the cyber world. “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” So if you see a ridiculous bargain online, like an iPhone for next to nothing, let that be your initial red flag.
But whatever about stealing your money, or providing you with fake goods, the real gold for cyber criminals is your data.
“Data is the new cash. Often criminals will want to steal data as opposed to money because they can only spend money once. Also, when it has been detected that money has been taken, safeguards can then be put in place. But when they get your data, your name, your billing address, and so on, they can sell that many times in the dark market.”
So, what can we do to shop safely online? Well, Paul was full of good advice, but let’s start here.
How do you know the website you are shopping on is secure? One very simple check is to look at the actual address, the URL, at the top of your browser. If it has the letter ‘s’ after the letters ‘http’, that indicates a secure server. Simple as that!
That’s just one tip. Another, very simply, is to try not to shop using public Wi-Fi as you have no idea who has access to it.
And, what to do if you feel you’ve been compromised?
Try a little of what he calls “cyber hygiene”. Like taking a “cyber shower” every now and again. Here’s how you do it.
Go to another computer you know is clean, one independent from your own computer. On that computer, you should change the passwords to your various online accounts. After that, go back to your original computer, do a virus check with your up-to-date anti-virus software and then re-enter your various online accounts with your new passwords.
But the holy grail for criminals, according to Paul, is getting access to your e-mail. GET YOUR E-MAIL SECURE! If you do nothing else, do that.
