What should you be doing over the holiday period to keep yourself safe in cyber security? We outline a few simple tips to follow.

Shop smart with online purchases

• Avoid purchasing from sites you don’t know; can you really trust that they aren’t selling your data elsewhere?
• Avoid using links in emails to shopping sites advertising specials, instead navigate to main site yourself. These links could be redirects to dodgy versions which will harvest your passwords and other data.
• Always relevant but particularly during the spending season; monitor your bank card statements for any suspicious activity (They might be easier to miss with all the spending for holidays).

Shared Wi-Fi networks

When travelling avoid using public Wi-Fi unless necessary. Free Public Wi-Fi is a particular problem for travellers as attackers know they are likely to connect to anything that is available (as often there is no other option).

Downloading Unknown Apps

During the holidays you have plenty of free time, right? Well careful what apps you download and ensure you only download from official sites like Google Play Store and App Store. Avoid free hotel apps as these often just subscribe you to more spam emails or maybe worse.

Two Factor Authentication

Although this is a trend that should definitely be implemented all year round (it involves setting up your phone as a confirmation when logging into an online service) it’s particularly important if you are travelling on the holidays as you will be notified immediately by the two-factor app or any unexpected login. This allows you to quickly login to the account and change the password, if it’s been compromised.

Don’t post about holiday times or locations on social media

Attackers knowing where you are at any particular time is definitely not good thing, and although it might be very tempting to notify friends on where you are, this makes you an easy target for which the data can be used in many unexpected ways.

Phishing Email Scams

Again, this occurs all-year-round but during the holiday season crafty email phishers may be able to use your Out of Office reply message to their advantage. For instance, knowing when you’ll be out of the office until is valuable information that can be used in a phishing attack. For example – you’re not contactable so the attacker sends a ‘sense of urgency’ email asking a staff member to change payment details.