The Aftermath of Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday has surpassed Black Friday in terms of sales, you are preferring to shop the deals in the comfort of your own home rather than facing the masses, this means that your card details and personal information is being used a lot more in order to complete purchases.

Many of you may wake up on this Tuesday with a wallet ache, maybe you needed that extra washing machine or maybe you were just in such a frenzy, clicking “add to cart” that you don’t even know why you bought it.

Now that the dust has settled and your credit card is maxed, it’s time to do some security damage control to make 100% sure that you are breach free.

Make sure you keep an eye on your card transactions and check statements for any unusual activity. Hackers will take advantage of the fact that your card usage is higher than normal and think that this is the best time to attack and that it will go unnoticed.

Don’t fall for any emails or calls you may receive saying there is fraudulent activity on your card, they wait till after an event like this to make the hack more believable. Again, calmly think before just reacting and sending whatever is being requested. Contact your bank or go into your bank and ask them to check your account and verify this activity.

Run scans from your multi-layered security you have on your device to make sure that if any malware did make it through, that it can be detected and stopped.

This is a big one and should be something you do regularly regardless of this event, CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. I know that it is hard to think of new passwords and feels like such admin, but if your password has been breached, this one-minute “struggle” will pay off.

These best practices should happen more often if you are a regular online shopper, especially due to hackers being able to spoof websites. It is important to stay grounded and focus whenever purchasing online, hackers rely on events like Cyber Monday, where they know your top priority is not checking that there is a lock in the top corner next to the URL, so by making a site look identical you fall into their trap.

This is why the aftermath recon is so important, it happens, you slip up on your cyber security and you get breached, instead of feeling embarrassed and ignoring it hoping it will just go away, deal with it, contact J2 and get the proper measures in place that won’t even allow you to be on a spoofed site or get infected.

You need to realize that hackers are out in full force because of it being festive season. Don’t let your guard down on your cyber security mindset. The last thing you want during this time is money being taken out of your account or your device being infected. Rather have the right measures in place and the right team behind you, to allow you to relax this festive season, but not let your cyber security fall by the wayside.

Visit the J2 Home Secure website, www.J2homesecure.co.za and get in touch, it’s never to late to create a safer online environment for you and your loved ones this festive season.

Let’s get real.

Olivia-Hannah Coetzee

www.J2homesecure.co.za and www.J2smesecure.co.za