FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Taking simple steps to protect your identity can save you a whole lot of trouble.
Restore Privacy, a company that publishes FREE cybersecurity tools and resources, is cautioning consumers about an uptick in scam activity onset by the holiday season. Traditionally, cybercriminals have always viewed that special time of year as a natural opportunity to ramp up their scamming efforts while people are doing more online spending – and this year, the risk is even greater as shoppers that would normally visit brick-and-mortar stores during the holiday season are dissuaded from doing so due to a global pandemic that calls for limiting in-person contact as much as possible.
Restore Privacy has developed a report that spells out the most common cyberthreats that people need to be aware of for this holiday shopping season.
- Account takeover fraud – This is a form of identity theft where a malicious third-party gains access to a user’s account credentials. An account takeover can allow scammers to access your credit card and personal information and use it to destroy your finances and wreck your personal reputation. Account takeovers can have a snowball effect if scammers are able to use the information on a compromised account to gain access to other accounts.
- Non-delivery of orders – This cyber-scam simply denotes a failure, on the part of a vendor, to deliver goods that an individual has purchased on its site. Such scam sites have offers that seem too good to be true and they may also demand that you pay for your order using a gift card, rather than a credit or debit card.
- Shipping notification scams – Scammers are sending out realistic-looking false tracking notification links through text messages. When an unsuspecting victim clicks on the link, they could become subject to a malicious advertising attack designed to spread harmful software onto their device.
- Charity donation scams – Similar to shipping notification scams, the goal of this potentially harmful communication is to get an individual to engage with a link. Cybercriminals try to take advantage of people’s generosity by sending out phony emails loaded with malware that can expose a person’s personal and financial data.
- Form jacking of legitimate sites – Form jacking is an emerging cybersecurity threat that happens when swindlers inject malicious code into a legitimate website, opening the door for visitors of the site to have their personal information sent to hackers. Unfortunately, there is not yet a surefire defense for form jacking but holiday shoppers may be able to reduce the risk of falling victim to an attack by shopping with larger retailers that are more likely to have protections against form jacking in place.
Despite what may seem like a never-ending bag of tricks that scammers have at their disposal, there are some general tactics that people can employ to protect themselves from cyberthreats and enjoy a safer holiday season. Some of the ways that people can avoid a cyberattack include: installing defenses such as antimalware, firewalls and/or virtual private networks (VPNs); using two-factor authentication whenever possible; and mixing up online account passwords with the help of password managers, tools that keep track of login credentials and alert users to password breaches and other security problems.
For a complete guide of resources that can keep people safe from cyberthreats this holiday season, please visit restoreprivacy.com.
About Restore Privacy
Restore Privacy is a website that is committed to publishing free cybersecurity resources for the public. With a team full of individuals that are passionate about digital privacy and online freedom, Restore Privacy specializes in explaining complex, technical topics to a non-technical audience. Restore Privacy is an independent site that follows strict rules such as no advertising, no sponsorships or paid reviews, no paid rankings or linking schemes and no invasive tracking. Restore Privacy’s foundational values help ensure that there will never be barriers to cybersecurity information on their site. To learn more about Restore Privacy’s full list of services, please visit restoreprivacy.com.
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