Tag: Cyber Monday

Posted on

Be Safe Online Shopping this Holiday Season

external content.duckduckgo 15 scaled

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, according to the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell , Cyber Monday 2020 set a record for e-commerce spending in one day, totaling $10.8 billion. With the pandemic raging on, many customers took to online stores to do their holiday shopping. While NJ COVID-19 cases have declined in recent weeks and vaccinations continue, we can still expect many customers to choose to conduct their shopping online and potentially start shopping earlier than usual given concerns for supply chain issues and shipping delays. Adobe predicts that online shopping spending will total over $200 billion for the first time ever by the end of the holiday season. Given the volume of e-commerce shopping, cybercriminals will continue their efforts to target online shoppers and marketplaces for financial gain. Therefore, it is vital to maintain awareness of the many cyber threats posed by these individuals and groups. Threat actors may target victims through a variety of methods, including compromised or spoofed websites, phishing emails, social media ads and messages, or unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Reviewing the following list of common attack vectors, along with tips and best practices, will help to combat the threats posed by cybercriminals this holiday season.

Continue reading Be Safe Online Shopping this Holiday Season

Posted on

Helpful tips to avoid fraud on Cyber Monday

worldwide-are-not-prepared-for-cyber-threats

November 17,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, With the holidays right around the corner, shoppers are preparing for the biggest online shopping event of the year, Cyber Monday. During this annual, event consumers are at high risk for online fraud and need to be aware of how to not become a victim.

Antwayne Ford a government IT/cybersecurity expert and President/CEO of Enlightened, an Information Technology (IT) and Management Consulting firm provided some helpful tips to the Ridgewood blog to avoid fraud on Cyber Monday.

Some of his tips include:

Keep Computer Security Updated: Make sure your operating system, web browser, and anti-virus are up to date in order to avoid any viruses causing damage to your machine.
Avoid Clicking Email Links:  these coupons could be a scammer trying to lure you to a fake version of a legitimate shopping site to steal your information.  Instead, take note of the coupon code and then manually enter the store’s website where you can enter the coupon at checkout to receive any discounts.
Avoid Click on Ads: Hackers are getting more sophisticated at targeting your information by attaching malware to ads that run in the background when you click on them.
Avoid Public Wi-Fi: I know we all love using public Wi-Fi because it provides users with free access to the internet, but public Wi-Fi is NOT secure.  It is relatively easy for a hacker to fake (also known as spoof) Wi-Fi access and steal your personal information as you surf the web.  Even if a hacker doesn’t spoof the Wi-Fi, they can still use tools to look at all the internet traffic happening on the Wi-Fi and possibly steal your information that way