With the holidays just around the corner, more shoppers are expected do their holiday shopping online this year than ever before. And tucked away under the auspices of their company's cubicles, many of them will do it the Monday following Thanksgiving holiday -- a day known in the commercial world as Cyber Monday.
And hackers know it. Unwary consumers thinking they're going to get a great deal on a video game or exercise equipment could be opening the door for identity thieves to swipe their personal and financial information.
And it's not a problem that will be cured with a little holiday spirit. According to security company Identity Finder, a security company specializing in identity theft, more than nine million Americans have their identity stolen every year. The Federal Trade Commission reports that in 2007, the highest category of complaints was identity theft, comprising 32 percent of total received to the category. Meanwhile, consumers reported fraud losses that totaled more than $1.2 billion, almost doubling from 2005.
The takeaway? Shoppers need to apply a few common sense practices when doing their holiday shopping online. "Parents teach us to 'look both ways before crossing the street' but most of us didn't grow up hearing 'make sure your password contains a number' or, 'look for an SSL connection when shopping,'" says Todd Feinman, CEO of Identity Finder.
Here are a few Cyber Monday Do's and Don'ts to keep you on the straight and narrow.
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