{"id":3207,"date":"2016-11-23T08:21:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T08:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/?p=3207"},"modified":"2016-11-29T07:48:35","modified_gmt":"2016-11-29T12:48:35","slug":"how-to-stay-safe-shopping-online-during-the-2016-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/how-to-stay-safe-shopping-online-during-the-2016-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stay Safe Shopping Online During the 2016 Holiday Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t be taken advantage of this holiday season \u2013 follow these tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Holiday Season is upon us, and with it comes tidings of joy, season\u2019s greetings and lots and lots of identity theft.<\/p>\n

Identity theft?<\/p>\n

Yes, lots of identity theft. And fraud. And plenty of other malfeasance on the part of cybercriminals. <\/p>\n

You see, the Holidays, for all the joy they bring, also present a considerable opportunity for hackers and cybercriminals to exploit people online. Think about it, you probably don\u2019t like leaving your house before the table is even cleared on Thanksgiving to go get that door buster deal. You\u2019re probably not a fan of camping out all night to be the first into the store on Black Friday.<\/p>\n

Granted, some people legitimately enjoy navigating the Holiday crowds on the busiest shopping day of the year. <\/p>\n

But, online retailers like Amazon, along with the advent of Cyber Monday, have given consumers a solid alternative to braving the craziness that comes with Black Friday. And then of course there\u2019s the regular online shopping that occurs in the months leading up to the Holidays. <\/p>\n

It all comes together to create the perfect environment for scammers and hackers to commit acts of fraud, steal people\u2019s identities and conduct a whole range of other Grinch-like, malevolent online activity.<\/p>\n

So with that in mind, here are some tips to help you stay safe when shopping online this Holiday Season:<\/p>\n

Learn to Look for Visual Indicators<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s the deal, phishing scams continue to rise in prevalence each year. You probably already know this, but if you didn\u2019t, a phishing scam is one where a third party tries to get you to divulge personal information that they can then use to their benefit. That could be via email or with a fake website. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get to email in a second, but on the web, here\u2019s a good first trick for weeding out potential scams: check the visual indicators in the website\u2019s address bar. <\/p>\n

Any real business or organization will likely have an SSL Certificate installed on their website. If they do, it will be reflected in the address bar with a padlock icon and the connection will be hosted over HTTPS (instead of just HTTP). If you see those two things, it means the website you\u2019re on uses encryption. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you can trust that website, but it\u2019s a good first step.<\/p>\n

If a website doesn\u2019t have those visual indicators, it means it\u2019s not encrypted. So if that site asks you for any personal information\u2014don\u2019t give it out! That holds especially true for login pages and checkout pages. If you\u2019re logging in or checking out at a site and it doesn\u2019t have a padlock icon and HTTPS in the address bar, then there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019re about to get scammed.<\/p>\n

Click the Padlock<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Secure<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another great trick. That padlock icon is clickable, meaning it will display information about the website you\u2019re on if you click on it. This is incredibly useful.<\/p>\n

Now, without getting too granular, there are three kinds of SSL Certificate, Domain Validation (DV), Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV). One of them, Domain Validation, is far less trustworthy than the other two.<\/p>\n

OV and EV Certificates require a company to undergo what is called \u201cBusiness Authentication.\u201d During the process the Certificate Authority (CA) that is issuing the Certificate is required to check the company\u2019s business details in order to verify that it is a real, legitimate organization.<\/p>\n

If you click on the padlock and under the certificate details it gives information about the company that owns the site (i.e. name, location, etc\u2026) then you are visiting a legitimate website and you have nothing to worry about. <\/p>\n

However, if company information is missing you need to be very skeptical. All one has to do to earn a DV SSL Certificate is prove ownership over a domain. This means that almost anyone could be running this website\u2014even though it is encrypted. So if you\u2019re about to buy a $400 smartphone for ten bucks at a website with a DV Certificate, be very careful. You might be about to get scammed or have your identity stolen.<\/p>\n

Look for the Green Address Bar<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Green
\nThe easiest way to ease your fears about where you\u2019re shopping is to look for the green address bar. The green address bar is not actually green anymore \u2013 it used to be \u2013 now it just displays a company\u2019s name and country in green text next to the URL. Still, this is an indication that the company in question has invested in Extended Validation SSL.<\/p>\n

EV SSL carries with it a number of benefits, but at the top of the list is that green address bar. It cannot be faked. It cannot be duplicated. When you go to a website and see it, you can have 100% certainty that you are indeed at the right place. And almost all of the largest companies have them too. <\/p>\n

If you see a green address bar, you don\u2019t even need to click the accompanying padlock, you already know who you\u2019re dealing with. You know that your information will be transmitted safely, and that you\u2019re not being scammed. <\/p>\n

Green means go.<\/p>\n

Listen to Your Browser<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Browser community is constantly crawling sites, flagging malicious activity and doing everything in its power to keep you safe. So let your browser do its job.<\/p>\n

For starters, make sure you have the maximum security settings enabled. There are entire guides on optimizing your browser\u2019s security features available, but to keep it brief, enable the settings that prevent your browser from freely transmitting information about you, disable anything that tracks you across the internet, be careful about cookies and keep your privacy settings high.<\/p>\n

Also, if you get a warning about a website you\u2019re trying to visit, heed it! Google, Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft all do a solid job of flagging the sites that are involved in mischief, obviously they can\u2019t catch everything, but chances are if your browser is telling you you\u2019re not safe on a website\u2014you\u2019re not safe on that website!<\/p>\n

Be Careful with Email<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Scam<\/p>\n

This is one of the more obvious tips on the list, but be careful with email this Holiday season. You may be signing up to a lot of extra sites\u2019 mailing lists for discounts or promotions around this time of year and that means you could miss a few attempts to phish or scam you that slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n

Most mail services have good spam filters, and some are even beginning to mark mail delivered from unencrypted servers, but when you\u2019re opening email always be as skeptical as possible. If you don\u2019t know the sender, don\u2019t open attachments. If you think you know the sender, make sure that this is something they would actually send (email accounts get compromised all the time).<\/p>\n

And if a retailer sends you something questionable, and its flagged as being from an unencrypted server, discard it immediately. <\/p>\n

Use Common Sense<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And finally, just use good common sense. If you\u2019re seeing a product advertised at a huge markdown \u2013 like a $20 iPad \u2013 it\u2019s probably a scam. As the old saying goes, if it seems too good to be true\u2014it probably is. <\/p>\n

Cybercriminals are incredibly creative. They know how to make fake websites that look identical to the real thing. They know how to create emails that look just like real ones. They\u2019re always finding new ways to lure you into giving them personal information, clicking bad links or surrendering your login credentials. <\/p>\n

Sometimes the best defense is just good common sense. We all want to score an amazing deal, but be realistic. Cybercriminals know that, they\u2019re trying to exploit that desire. Always try to use common sense.<\/p>\n

Wrapping Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We hope these tips help you to stay safe shopping online this Holiday Season. In reality, it\u2019s a shame we even have to put together a list like this at all. But keep these tips in mind and you should be able to shop for your friends and family without fear of being taken advantage of.<\/p>\n

And from all of us at The SSL Store\u2122<\/a><\/strong>, Happy Holidays!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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