SINGAPORE, 22 DECEMBER 2009—Singaporeans are busy shopping for Christmas and many prefer to shop online instead of standing in long queues. But online shopping has its own problems and Kaspersky Lab, a developer of secure content management solutions, has issued a warning to shoppers: beware of the threats associated with online shopping.
Cyber criminals are on the lookout for an opportunity to attack and use sophisticated methods and tools to harm unsuspecting and unprotected shoppers, said Gun Suk Ling, managing director for Kaspersky Lab South East Asia.
Kaspersky Lab has made some suggestions to protect Singaporeans from cyber criminals this Christmas. Gun said online shoppers should follow the following tips and use effective antivirus programs such as those from Kaspersky Lab to enjoy this festive season without having to worry about the attacks.
It is more convenient to use wireless devices and Kaspersky Lab’s advice is for shoppers to change the administrator password for their wireless router if they are shopping wirelessly. Hackers can very easily find out the manufacturer’s default password and proceed to access their wireless network. It is a good move to use a different password for each website.
Beware of the websites that offer expensive goods at throwaway prices and only buy if you are clear about the terms and conditions. Try to buy products from online shops that offer an encrypted connection for the payment transaction. An encryption is easily identified by the small lock symbol or the changed color of the address in the web browser.
Receipts should be destroyed immediately lest cyber criminals get their hands on information containing your credit card and personal details on your personal computer.
Beware of phishing sites
Unsuspecting Singaporeans can be fooled by cyber criminals who can create an almost 100 per cent perfect replica of a website. An unsuspecting shopper may disclose his personal details through an online form and suffer from the consequences.
This situation can be avoided by shoppers using the latest version of their web browsers and antivirus programs, which block phishing sites. These antivirus protection applications should be installed before shopping online.
Shoppers should never open an attachment sent in unsolicited emails or instant messages containing links. Addresses of shopping websites should be typed directly into web browsers and it is good to take a screen shot of every step of the online sale. If this is not feasible, take printouts as these will serve as evidence in the case of a dispute.
