Cybersecurity: Shopping Scams
Holiday Shopping Scams
Based on the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): https://www.cisa.gov/shop-safely
The holiday shopping season is here, and while millions of Americans will be looking for the best deals the internet has to offer, cyber criminals will be hard at work looking to target online shoppers. The holiday shopping season is a prime opportunity for bad actors to take advantage of unsuspecting shoppers through fake websites, malicious links, and even fake charities. Their goal is simple: get a hold of your personal and financial information to compromise your data, insert malicious software, steal your identity, and take your money.
Be wary of emails and make sure they are legitimate – order confirmations, shipping emails, unrequested emails that appear to be from reputable companies, refund opportunities, emails requesting personal information or a phone call
At ODU, we are committed to helping our faculty, staff, students, and affiliates better protect themselves online. This holiday shopping season, please take note of a few easy steps to lower your risks of becoming a victim of cyber-crime – Strong passwords, Updated software, think before you click on suspicious links, and turn on multi-factor authentication as basic cyber hygiene.
Here are the 4 ways to protect yourself online:
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your accounts and make it much less likely that you’ll get hacked
- Update your software. In fact, turn on automatic updates
- Think before you click. Most successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email
- Use strong passwords, and ideally a password manager to generate and store unique passwords
Before getting into your shopping groove:
· Check your accounts for multi-factor authentication
· Check your devices for current security updates
· Shop through trusted sources
· Use a credit card versus a debit card for online transactions
· Prepare to check your statements regularly
· Be wary of emails and make sure they are legitimate – order confirmations, shipping emails, unrequested emails that appear to be from reputable companies, refund opportunities, emails requesting personal information or a phone call
For more information on cybersecurity, please visit our awareness page at www.odu.edu/safecomputing. Thank you for your diligence in maintaining a secure ODU computing environment!
J. Douglas Streit, CISSP
Executive Director & CISO
IT Security & Planning
Information Technology Services
Old Dominion University
http://www.odu.edu/directory/people/j/jstreit
Posted By: John Streit
Date: Fri Nov 25 07:16:10 EST 2022