'Tis the Season!

Make Purchases Online? Here Are 4 Things You (And Your Employees) Need To Do To Keep From Becoming A Prime Target For Cybercriminals

 ROI Revolution estimates that e-commerce sales will eclipse $236 billion this holiday season. While that’s the most popular time for consumers to purchase online, in 2021 over $2 billion a day was made in online purchases.

Chances are you and your employees make purchases weekly personally and for your business.

And…chances are that cybercriminals are doing their best to capitalize on this to steal credit card numbers, logins, and passwords and even you and your customers’ banking information.

If they don’t follow these four practices to stay safer (notice I didn’t say safe) buying online, they could be exposing themselves and your business to identity theft, fraud, and more.

1. Don’t reuse passwords from site to site. If you use the same password for multiple sites, when one company’s records get breached (which happens every day) a criminal now has access to multiple accounts. So, make sure you use different passwords for different sites. This does make things slightly more complicated for you, but it also makes it infinitely harder for cybercriminals. (hint – see our previous blog about password management systems)
2. Check the URL in the address bar. One indication that a website is secure is that it either has a small lock symbol to the far left of the URL or “https” in the URL. If you see a lock that’s unlocked or just an “http,” the site is not secure – do NOT provide any credit card information or bank account details.
3. Don't use a debit card to pay – only use a credit card. This way, if someone is able to access your account, you won’t lose what’s currently in your bank account. And most major credit cards have a $50 or less liability policy if unauthorized charges are made. So it’s important to watch those statements. If you do feel you’re the victim of fraud, make sure to contact your credit card company immediately.
4. Be wary of any texts or e-mails about package deliveries. Even if you have something you’re tracking, go back to the site you originally purchased from to check notifications that way. Any links from an unknown sender could infect the device you’re on, which could expose you to viruses and malicious software. 

While there are plenty of cybercriminals happy to scam consumers, who they really want to go after are businesses because they have much deeper pockets and there are multiple ways they can cause havoc.

Call us at (413) 786-9675 or click here to schedule a brief 15-minute call https://tinyurl.com/nyx9sb4j to discuss your situation, needs and concerns. If appropriate, we can conduct a simple security assessment for free to know for sure if your network and data is safe.