It’s crazy that we’re nearing the end of another year, and the holidays are upon us! With all the great shopping deals coming up with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s easy to get caught up in the madness of holiday shopping season. The unfortunate part is that this is the prime season for cyber thieves to fill their stockings off your holiday spirit.

Here’s some tips to help you get these holiday steal deals and make sure cyber thieves don’t steal from you.

In-Store Shopping

There are many ways to pay for your items when in a store and minimize your card information being re-created or used by thieves:

Apple Pay, Google Pay and Tap to pay feature are the best and most secure options because they hide your card information.

When checking out, you can use your other hand, adjust your body or use another item to shield the PIN entry to help defeat shoulder surfers or digital cameras. Keeping your card information safe is a top priority.

Online Shopping

Online shopping has become more popular than in-store shopping over the years and is a great way to do your holiday shopping but there’s different security considerations:

• Don’t store your payment card details in the websites or on your browser
• Don’t buy from unrecognized retailers. If it’s a new retailer to you, go to the site directly (don’t click on the ad), check the reviews (too many five stars in a short period of time could mean it’s a fake/malicious site)
• Avoid deals that seem too good to be true. This could be a lure from cyber thieves to get you to their fake site
• Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to help protect your online privacy and personal information safe
• Create strong & unique passwords – don’t reuse the same passwords for shopping sites, email accounts and financial (credit union/bank) apps
• Install device protection software to alert you of potential scams

Malware & Advertisements

Beware of malicious advertising, cyber criminals are inserting malware into ads and catching unsuspecting people off guard. It is safer to go directly to the website being advertised rather than clicking on an ad.

If you prefer clicking on pop up ads though, be sure to have anti-virus & anti-malware software installed on all devices. Also, keep the software security features turned on for your preferred browsers, most anti-virus/anti-malware software has a malicious website detection feature. Keep an eye on those warnings.

The holiday season is meant to bring fun and joy and with the tips above, you can be safer too.