Shopping Cyber Monday And Keeping Your Information Safe

Keeping your information safe while shopping online is a matter of due diligence.

That is according to Tennessee Tech Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center Assistant Director Eric Brown. Brown said there are simple steps to mitigate scamming threats.

“Amazon accounts and things like that, make use of the two factor authentication feature for your login,” Brown said, “So that if someone tries to long into your account, your telephone will get a message with a code so that you can verify that it is actually you.”

Brown said a good practice is to only use trusted websites. Brown said credit card scammers want to encourage quick purchases by providing links for convenience.

“Be careful, especially right now, where you’re entering your credit card number,” Brown said. “We have our cell phones now and there are so many things we can use to make our banking easier, make our transactions easier and make price checking easier. Be cautious where you’re using your cell phone and entering a credit card number.”

Brown said text message and email scams are also more common this time of year. Brown said you may receive a notification to expedite the shipping of a package. Brown said in many cases, the link is a scam that takes you to a page asking for a credit card number.

“Independently check it with the shipper it should be coming from,” Brown said. “So if they used UPS or FedEx, go to those websites to check it there. Don’t use the link in the text message.”

Brown said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also has a free guide available online for other shopping tips.