In 2018, Easter and April Fool’s Day fall on the same day. With the popularity of online shopping these days, be sure you and your employees heed some important points in days leading up to April 1st. The last thing your business needs is a bit of online shopping creating a headache for IT support in Austin.
Avoid Unknown Online Vendors
It pays to stick to well-known internet shopping platforms, particularly around popular holidays. The temptation to go for, unusually, cheap deals can overcome our natural defenses. Whether you’re attracted by a bargain or fall for a ‘fake’ version of famous online retail brands, you risk being hit by a web-based malware infection, simply by visiting these crooked sites.
The real danger for cybersecurity, however, comes with the checkout processes of these sites. Be wary of giving up your personal and credit card details to websites and online stores you aren’t 100% sure are legitimate.
Always Go Direct
It is incredibly easy for cybercriminals to create emails that look as if they came from Amazon, eBay, or PayPal (to name just a few). If you go shopping online, try to go directly to the real web URL you already know. If you receive a promotional email that contains a clickable link, inspect the URL carefully in the address bar of your web browser before going further.
Before shopping on a site, check for red flags like:
- Copycat web URLs like “Amazone”, “Paypoll”, or “eBayez”.
- Suspicious sites Like “bestgiftsforyou1000.com”, “lowestpriceamazon.com”, “fashoinoutlet.com”
- Non-corporate email addresses like “[email protected]”, “[email protected]”
- Lack of security certificate, especially at the checkout. Make sure your web browser confirms the security of your web connection to the site and the identity of the site.
Use Updated Antivirus
Whether or not your employees can do some online shopping on their lunch hour, make sure your cyber security in Austin is super strong by keeping your antivirus updated. Make sure your antivirus uses real-time scanning.
Firewall Filtering
A lot of the dangers from email and online shopping can be stopped before they get in your corporate network. Steps that IT support in Austin can take include automated configuration of antivirus on the desktop and mobile devices, firewall control of inbound and outbound connections, and monitoring/auditing of network activity.
Education
Make sure your employees understand the risks and how to avoid those risks. Even if employees don’t do their shopping while at work, they can, inadvertently, bring the dangers back into the office. If they shop online via public Wi-Fi, their mobile device can bring infection into your organization if it then connects to your network.
Public Wi-Fi/Hotspots
One way to reduce the risks from using public Wi-Fi is a VPN or virtual private network. The VPN’s encrypted connection reduces the risk of ‘snooping’. However, it doesn’t totally remove the risks. It is better not to shop (or use online banking!) via public Wi-Fi.
Sophisticated solutions for security with IT support in Austin abounds. The area of security is a complex one, but holidays don’t have to be cybersecurity hell. To learn more about how you and your employees can be safer, talk to us at Contigo Technology today.