Internet security when you are shopping online

Nov 28 2016 Internet

Unofficially, holiday sales have began. Black friday has crossed the ocean and came to Ukraine, and countless shops offer shoppers holiday discounts.
but most shoppers do not even know all the risks they face, while shopping online. Their personal accounts might be hacked and their personal data might be stolen.
40% of those who know about all the internet shopping risks, do not even consider to change their shopping habits.

Cybereason - developers of a unique, first in the world platform that traces and solver hacker`s related problems in USA. They have released the results of a  shopppers`s survey and found out, that almost two thirds of consumers are worried about being hacked. But 40% wont move a finger to prevent this from happening.

Israel Barak, a Cybereason representative, explains why so many people do not change their shopping habits, even when the chances to get hacked are very high. People think, that credit card insurance, provided by the bank is enough, and they can shop on any website they want. It is especially dangerous during the holiday season, and not only to the shoppers, but also for the corporate networks, which people use for shopping on Cyber monday.

Statistics confirm the existence of dangers of online shopping

Cybereason survey showed that 68% of shoppers most likely will open an email from the e-shop during the holiday season. Also 32%  of shoppers will definitely click an advertising banner in the internet, that can lead to clickjacking. This 2016 year shoppers more often use mobile devices to shop and surf online.
Actually 46 % of consumers prefer their smartphones, instead of desktops and laptops.

Here are some more interesting facts from this survey:

  • 70% of shoppers said, that will buy from an unknown seller, if the price is good.
  • 72% of shoppers have purchased from vendors they have never heard about, and 70 % stated that will do it again. 
  • 12% of shoppers will download a questionable mobile app.

This shopping behaviour change can lead to a various hacker attacks through suspicious links, corrupted mobile websites and unsafe networks.And also since many people are travelling on holidays, there is one more danger - public Wi-Fi networks (such as airports, hotels restaurants etc). 

The use of bank cards in payments online

One more problem lies in a fact, that not everyone knows a difference between debit and credit card, and use a debit card for shopping. Debit cards do not have the same protection from the fraud and do not have an insurance from the bank, debit card is directly connected to the bank account it is attached to. Stolen card data (debit or credit) can lead to many problems for it`s owner, he can become connected to different illegal actions (such as gun, drugs, explosives purchase). 

Tips for Online Safety

To be safe online, follow this simple rules online : shop only on trusted websites and e-shops, make sure that website`s URL begins with ‘HTTPS’ and NOT ‘HTTP’ , look for the padlock icon on the left in address line. 
Opening an email from the e-shop with a great deals, go to the actual website of this shop and look for this offers there, instead of clicking on the banner in the email. Hackers can create a website clon so they can steal your personal data.