5 tips to keep your online shopping safer during Black Friday

The holidays are a time when people purchase gifts for their friends,
families, and yes even for themselves. Increasingly, children are using and
accessing more and more digital devices, and this makes it important for
everyone to work together to secure these devices.

Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, and everyone should do their
best to practice good cyber hygiene. Here are five tips to help keep your
online shopping safer as well as your digital devices more secure:

Parents need to work with children on their
“Wish List.” In the past, children used to dog-ear pages of shopping catalogues,
but now it’s online. There are stories of
children putting items on wish lists, and then accidentally
or on purpose, the item is purchased.

Recently, someone posted a picture of an ironing
board that arrived unexpectedly on their doorstep,
as it was accidentally added to
their account from their child’s wish list. They took an “unexpected
purchase selfie” with it on their porch—this is actually a thing, “unexpected purchase selfie!”

Or, even better, buy
yourself gift cards. Using gift cards also helps you stick to a budget.

Choosing your password is perhaps one of the
easiest, yet most challenging security measures that you can do. The objective
is to remember it without writing it on a post-it that you keep next to your
computer, but also making it complex enough that it is not easy for hackers to
gain access to your computer. Avoid some of the following pitfalls and consider
a “pass-phrase” like “mybirthdayis1970Jan15.”

Alternatively, users can rely on password
managers.

If you have new
digital devices planned for holiday gifts, don’t forget the security products
to help protect them. Unprotected devices can be
infected in less than 5 minutes.

Use family-safe software and tools. No single
technology solution meets the needs of every family, so explore the many
different tools that can help you keep your children safe online.

A few more digital device tips:

·
Use an
internet firewall at all times. The firewall is your first line of defence in
protecting your computer because it helps
to obscure your devices to online attackers and many types of malicious
software.

·
Keep your
operating system up to date; enable its automatic update features.
Online criminals are constantly at work devising new ways to attack your
computer and invade your privacy.

·
Maintain
antivirus and antispyware software. Antivirus and antispyware software help to protect your computer by scanning email,
applications, and data that resides on
your computer. Strong antivirus and spyware programs can detect and remove
viruses and spyware before they have a chance to damage your devices.

If you remember to keep your software and
firmware up-to-date, you can help protect your computer and digital devices and
keep your computer and digital devices more secure.

For 30 years, ESET® has been developing industry-leading IT
security software and services for businesses and consumers worldwide.
With solutions ranging from endpoint and mobile security, to encryption
and two-factor authentication, ESET’s high-performing, easy-to-use products
give consumers and businesses the peace of mind to enjoy the full potential of
their technology. ESET unobtrusively protects and monitors 24/7, updating
defenses in real-time to keep users safe and businesses running without
interruption. Evolving threats require an evolving IT security company. Backed
by R&D centers worldwide, ESET becomes the first IT security company to
earn 100 Virus Bulletin VB100 awards, identifying every single “in-the-wild”
malware without interruption since 2003. For more information visit www.eset.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and
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