Black Friday sales are under way, with many companies slashing the prices of their products (and PCMag showing you the best places for deals on smartphones, gaming, and most-needed tech).
But the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ, has said that the massive sales could be "prime pickings" for cyber-crime. According to the BBC, this is the first official warning in the run-up to the holiday season.
The centre says it wants to start a "national cyber-chat" on Black Friday, when billions are expected to be spent online. In the past 12 months, it has taken down almost 140,000 "phishing" websites - which would attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by pretending to be a service they are not.
The NSCS is also publishing answers to questions from the public on Twitter, because it wants " the whole country to know that the NCSC speaks the same language as them," said technical director Ian Levy.
Let's have a cyber chat about #BlackFriday! pic.twitter.com/gPHHjfa9nv — NCSC UK (@NCSC) 23 November 2018
In order to stay safe online, the National Cyber Security's Centre advises that shoppers should:
- Install the latest software and app updates
- Choose strong and separate passwords for accounts
- Type in a shop's website address rather than clicking on links in emails
- Avoid over-sharing unnecessary information with shops, even if they ask
- Don't panic if you think you've been a victim of fraud
- Keep an eye on bank accounts for unrecognised payments
- Make sure all your home gadgets are secure
With numerous attacks made on company websites such as the recent Vision Direct and British Airways hack, where fraudsters managed to upload fake Google Analytics script to scrape the website of payment information, protecting against data breaches is imperative this holiday season.
One of the best things you can do to keep yourself safe online is using a good virtual private network to keep your data secure when using public Wi-Fi, having the best password manager keep track of your login information, and ensuring you're protected against malware with regular updates to your antivirus program or purchasing a full-blown security suite to keep phishers at bay.