NRF Releases Shopping Statistics, Hikvision Cyber Tips to Avoid Security Concerns While Shopping In-Store and Online
The National Retail Federation (NRF) released Thanksgiving weekend shopping statistics that anticipate more than 165 million people will be shopping throughout the holiday weekend, including Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Below, Hikvision outlines common cyber concerns with links to blog tips to avoid security issues this holiday season, so you can stay safe and enjoy shopping.
“The tradition of Thanksgiving weekend holiday shopping has become a five-day event with consumers spending money in stores, supporting local small businesses, and online with their mobile devices and computers. Even as people are starting to purchase gifts earlier in the season, consumers still enjoy finding good Thanksgiving deals and passing time shopping with family and friends over the long holiday weekend,” said NRF president and CEO, Matthew Shay, in the article.
Below, Hikvision outlines common cyber threats and links to articles that offer tips to avoid security concerns this holiday shopping season:
- Juice-Jacking: Avoid juice-jacking while in malls or airports by avoiding the use of public USB charging stations. Juice-jacking happens when someone connects their mobile device to a USB charging station that charges the device, but has also been modified to copy data from the mobile device, like photos and text messages, or infect the device with malware. Read more about what it is and how to prevent it at this link.
- Phishing: Phishing attacks have long been an effective way for attackers to trick people into divulging sensitive information or infecting a system with malware. Malware can give an attacker remote access to protected systems and networks, encrypt a user’s data and charge a ransom to decrypt the data, or use that system as part of an attack against other systems. Learn to identify common phishing attacks in this blog.
- Spear Phishing: Spear phishing is a special kind of phishing attack that targets a specific person or organization. Spear phishing emails typically have information about the victim in the email that makes the email seem credible. Click here to read more from our cybersecurity director about this type of phishing, and how to avoid it.
- Protect Yourself Online: Using complex passwords and not reusing passwords across multiple sites or logins will help you stay safe online. The most important aspect of a passphrase is that they should be long—at least 12 characters. Read this blog that outlines more insights to stay safe with good passwords, web browser security and firewall security.
Our cybersecurity director, Chuck Davis, also recommends that consumers only purchase goods online from reputable retailers with secure URLs.