How To Stay Safe From Cybercrime During the Holidays

Updated on October 18, 2023.

As the holiday season fast approaches, most people turn to online shopping as a more convenient way to purchase gifts and avoid large crowds. Cybercriminals are preparing for the holidays too, but they’re doing so with bad intentions. 

Cybercriminals have developed easier and more advanced methods to steal consumers’ money and personal information when they’re shopping online. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warns shoppers to always be aware of holiday scams and malicious emails or links when shopping online.

To stay safe from cybercrime during the holidays, avoid targeted phishing scams that can put your information and identity at risk, secure your online accounts with strong passwords and never make purchases using public WiFi. 

How To Identify Cybercrime During the Holidays

It can be easy to fall victim to cybercrimes during the holidays when you don’t know how to identify the telltale signs of an attack. Follow these useful tips to avoid cybercriminals taking advantage of you during the holidays.

Phishing scams

“From Amaz0n: Congrats! You won a Free Gift Card! Simply enter your credit card number to claim here.” Be wary of phishing scams. Phishing is a technique used by cybercriminals where malicious emails are disguised as “real” emails coming from legitimate companies to get individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card information. Phishing emails have become harder to spot with the rise of AI. Always check who sent you the email and if the email contains a too-good-to-be-true offer, then chances are it’s malicious email. 

Gift card fraud

Gift card fraud happens when scammers trick people into purchasing gift cards and revealing the code as a way to steal the victim’s money. This type of fraud can happen in many ways and for many reasons, but during the holiday season, it frequently happens on online marketplace websites. Scammers will place items for sale on a site like Facebook Marketplace, with an unusually low price to attract buyers. The seller will claim they only accept gift cards as payment and ask you to send the gift card code before they ship the item. However, once the scammer receives the gift card code, they disappear and the buyer never receives the item.    

Imposter scams

If you’re a grandmother and suddenly receive a text message from your grandchild requesting money, you’re probably being targeted by a scammer. Imposter scams happen when a scammer pretends to be someone you know and tries to reach you by email or text message asking for money. Scammers use social engineering techniques to leverage familiarity, making these scams believable and increasing the chance that victims will fall for the scam. 

Holiday Cybersecurity Tips 

Cybercriminals know how hectic the holidays can be, which is why they also know it’s a perfect time to take advantage of you. To help avoid the possibility of any cybercrime coming your way during a time of holiday cheer, follow these tips.

Use strong and unique passwords for all accounts 

Strengthen the security of your online accounts by creating strong and unique passwords. A strong password consists of uppercase and lowercase letters, has a variation of numbers and special characters, and is at least 16 characters long. To help you create a strong password, use a password generator. We know that it’s impossible to remember each password which is why we highly recommend storing your passwords in a password manager. 

A password manager securely stores and generates strong passwords for all of your online accounts. You access your stored passwords using your master password, which acts as a key to unlock your secure password vault. This means you only have to remember a single password. 

Enable multi-factor authentication

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security to your accounts by requiring additional methods of authentication. When accessing your bank account, for example, MFA will require you to enter a text code in addition to your username and password, before granting you access to your account. MFA makes it difficult for cybercriminals to access your accounts, even if they have your credentials because they won’t be able to provide the additional authentication factor. 

Avoid public WiFi networks

While it’s convenient, it is not secure to shop online while using free public WiFi. Avoid using public WiFi to make purchases because cybercriminals can ambush you through Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks. MITM attacks are a type of cyber attack in which a cybercriminal intercepts the traffic between two parties. For example, let’s say you are using the public WiFi at a coffee shop for online shopping. Without you or the coffee shop knowing, cybercriminals can position themselves to gather your personal information. If you enter your credit card number to make a purchase, the cybercriminal can access your card number to make purchases of their own. 

Do not give out personal information

You should never divulge personal information over the phone or by email unless you are absolutely certain that the phone call or email exchange is secure. Make sure you are speaking to the person who you believe you are speaking to. If you must share any information, ensure that it’s with someone you trust, and securely share it through a password manager. The component of a password manager that physically stores and safeguards any sensitive information is called a password vault. You, your company, or your family can use a password manager to secure, store and share any sensitive information.

Use anti-virus software

It’s wise to use antivirus software to defend your devices from threats. You can scan, identify and get rid of malware with antivirus software. Maintain antivirus updates to get the best level of security.

What To Do if You Get Scammed

Here’s what to do if you’ve fallen for a holiday scam. 

1. File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center
2. File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
3. Get a copy of your credit report to look for any suspicious activity
4. Notify your banks immediately 
5. Change all your passwords and store them in a password vault

Stay Safe From Cybercrime This Holiday Season

Don’t let cybercrime ruin your holiday season. Cybercriminals can strike at any time but if you follow cybersecurity best practices, you can reduce the risk of falling victim to holiday scams.  Investing in a password manager is the first step toward staying safe from cybercriminals. Protect your online accounts today.