{"id":212417,"date":"2017-11-23T09:05:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T07:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=212417"},"modified":"2017-11-23T09:05:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T07:05:24","slug":"be-careful-of-typosquatting-this-black-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/212417\/be-careful-of-typosquatting-this-black-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Be careful of &#8216;typosquatting&#8217; this Black Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are planning to spend your Christmas bonus on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, John Shier, senior security advisor at <span class=\"st\">security software and hardware company<\/span> Sophos, has some top tips on how to avoid becoming a victim to an online scam.<\/p>\n<p>As more e-commerce sites come online in South Africa, so does the threat of cyber-attacks increase, with a recent a report by law firm RPC, showing that attacks on e-commerce sites have doubled in the past year.<\/p>\n<p>As the shopping experience becomes increasingly interconnected and accessible for the masses, it may also become more user-friendly for cyber criminals, warned Martin Walshaw, senior systems engineer at F5 Networks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the race for profit, devices and features designed for consumer simplicity are rife, usually with one-touch\/easy-access sign-in mechanisms. Security is often an afterthought. As the shopping experience becomes increasingly interconnected and accessible for the masses, it may also become more user-friendly for cybercriminals,&#8221; Walshaw said.<\/p>\n<p>Sophos&#8217; Shier has the following advice:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>If an online deal or email offer with price discounts looks too good to be true, it probably is<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hit delete immediately. It\u2019s common knowledge that though there are some great deals to be had over Black Friday, most products are cheaper or the same price at other times of year, so it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019ll find the deal of a lifetime. The best way to confirm if it is real is to go directly on to the vendor\u2019s site to check the price, and avoid clicking the link in the email which is likely to be malicious.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Email.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-212449\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Email.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"356\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Email.jpg 356w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Email-300x277.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be cautious of the wireless network you\u2019re connected to when you\u2019re online shopping<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Only ever enter your credit card information when you\u2019re on a secure network that you trust. And remember the best way to keep your money safe is to use PayPal or your credit card. Where possible, avoid using debit cards to purchase gifts online.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/wireless.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-212445\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/wireless.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/wireless.jpg 210w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/wireless-170x300.jpg 170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be on the lookout for Typosquatting<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is where cybercriminals take a popular online brand and change one letter or two to trick you into clicking and sharing personal information. Always check the spelling and be on the lookout for smart typosquatting like the famous Tvvitter attack.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Typosquatting.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-212443\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Typosquatting.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"410\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Typosquatting.jpg 410w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Typosquatting-300x241.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be sensible about password security and incorporate length and complexity<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Make account passwords different and difficult to guess. Include upper and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols to make passwords harder to crack \u2013 you can see the best tips for creating strong passwords here.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>If you\u2019re contemplating clicking the link in an email, take a look at the URL first<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Before you click, hover on the link if you\u2019re on a computer or hold down the link on your phone and you should see the full URL appear. Once you can see it look at the source and ask yourself does this look legitimate. Bear in mind that just because the URL has a padlock icon next to it or starts with \u2018https\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n<p>As a rule of thumb if you aren\u2019t sure if its genuine just delete it straight away.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Walshaw has a message for e-commerce platforms. He said that a sustainable, functional and consumer-facing website needs to focus security efforts as closely as possible to the application.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Retailers must adopt a multi-layered approach of on-premise and cloud to keep their online services live against DDoS attacks, as well as protecting the network, the session and the consumer. Security measures also need to be intelligent enough to determine legitimate transactions from malicious activity, which is becoming increasingly difficult as cybercriminals adopt new tactics.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Strong threat analysis measures should be in place to capture any irregularities from the outset. At the very least, online retailers should ensure they have \u201cTrusted Shop Certificates\u201d, which guarantees a minimum but standardised level of security and consumer trust,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/212175\/how-you-can-score-from-your-bank-on-black-friday-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How you can score from your bank on Black Friday 2017<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are planning to spend your Christmas bonus on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, John Shier, senior security advisor at security software and hardware company Sophos has some top tips on how to avoid becoming a victim to an online scam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":212113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882],"tags":[12593],"class_list":["post-212417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-sophos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212417"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212469,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212417\/revisions\/212469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}