While these tips are helpful anytime of the year, we know that many Black Friday online sales are already live, some holiday decorations are already up to bring cheer during these times, and businesses are looking to secure their online shops to ensure their pages don’t crash during launches and that their clients’ payment information remains safe.
- Shop using a trusted network connection, not an unfamiliar Wi-Fi network.
- Avoid websites with poor security practices, including an SSL certificate at a minimum (with https:// in the URL and a lock next to it in your web browser, as opposed to an unsecured site that has http:// in the URL without a lock).
- Consider shopping using Incognito or Private mode in your browser.
- Use the retailer’s social media to confirm sales, rather than trusting links via email. Too good to be true sales via email might be phishing attempts instead of exclusive deals.
- When signing into a retailer’s website to check out, use passphrases or randomly generated complex passwords through a password manager service like LastPass.
- Register for multifactor authentication when available, which will help validate your identity and give you peace of mind that you’ll be notified if someone attempts an unauthorized sign in on that account.
- Monitor your bank accounts, credit cards, and credit profile for the rest of the year for suspicious activity.
Don’t have a bad experience shopping online this holiday season!
Shop with trusted sources and if you’re concerned about any security breaches after the fact, contact KnowIT at 888-603-8280 for our recommended next steps.
