Safe Online Shopping - Cribb Cyber Security

Last week the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) revealed measures you can take for a safe online shopping experience. With Christmas fast approaching, we thought it worthy of coverage in this week’s blog. We have also added some cyber security tips of our own.

The NCSC have revealed that an average of almost £800 was stolen from shoppers last Christmas. In response to this, the Cyber Aware campaign has been launched.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has released statistics from the last Christmas shopping period. The numbers were recorded between November 1st and January 31st and showed huge losses of £13.5 million. These losses came from 17,405 online shopping fraud reports and this is on course to be eclipsed this year.

Top Tip for safe online shopping

Try to use reputable retail brands or websites. Look out for trust symbols such as Verisign and McAfee. If you are in any doubt, do not proceed with an online sale.

NCSC Recommendations

Six key behaviours recommended by the NCSC for safe online shopping:

  • Ensure your emails use a strong, unique password
  • A strong password often consists of 3 words chosen at random
  • Save passwords in your browser
  • Utilise two-factor authentication (2FA)
  • Ensure that devices and apps are updated
  • Back up your data

Our experts see these as good measures to follow. As well as applying these, you should also consider the following.

Further measures you can take to stay secure

  • Consider using multi-factor authentication (MFA)
  • Carry out research on online retailers
  • Make sure any website you use is secure
  • Read return policies
  • Avoid making online purchases using public Wi-Fi
  • Be aware of phishing emails (do not click on suspicious links)

CRIBB Cyber Security is an official, UK Government backed certification body. We provide theICEway ecosystem of companies with security by design.