Here’s how to avoid scams
With Black Friday just over a week away, cybercriminals are getting ready to trick shoppers and web users out of money. It may be a shoppers dream, but Black Friday it also attracts cybercriminals like moths to the light. No one wants to be a victim of a phishing scam at any time of the year. However, with the onslaught of Black Friday scams about to hit our inbox, how do we know if we are being scammed and how can we stop it happening? In this post, we look at ‘Black Friday is coming – here’s how to avoid scams’.
Check web addresses
Scammers will often create very similar domain names to those they are impersonating, so always double-check that you’re on the correct website. They may have added in hyphens or duplicated a letter, which isn’t always easy to spot. Check for the little padlock symbol next to the web address that indicates whether or not the site is secure.
Don’t click on links in emails unless you’re sure of the sender
Emails about the latest offers and big discounts can be enticing but think twice before you click. Scammers can make it look like their emails are from a well-known brand, but on checking the actual email address you may find that it’s a ruse. Other things to look out for include spelling and grammar mistakes, a sense of urgency persuading you to act immediately, and discounts that are unusually big, as this is typical behavior of scammers. These are known as phishing emails. Check out our separate post on those here.
Stick to what you know
It’s best to stick to reputable retailers when it comes to Black Friday. Stick to reputable retailers. If you’re shopping with a new-to-you merchant, do your due diligence. Check for a physical address, a customer service phone number, and a professional-looking site. Warning signs of sketchy sites include poor spelling, odd design, and slow loading. Only buy from secure sites with SSL encryption, with URLs starting with https.
Cybersecurity has never been more important. If you’re a London based business and want us to conduct an audit of your cybersecurity as well as provide a recommendation as to how it can be improved, please get in touch.
A few things organizations can do to protect themselves from cyber threats
Whether you’re working alone or seeking the services of IT support in London, you need to increase cyber security at your workplace. You can do this in the following ways:
• Educate employees
With cyber security, it’s important for your employees to actively apply the action plans. However, if they do this, they need to be educated about cyber crime, the attacks they may experience and what they can do to stop this from happening.
• Structure and safe-guard your data
The most-important thing to do is for you to identify what data is important for your organisation. That way you can re-structure data and add additional levels of protection. Backups and recovery plans must be in place to also ensure safety in case of a cyber attack. Therefore, this exercise will help you identify if there is any data theft.
• Draft a response plan
Set up a cyber security team in your organization. Ask them to come up with a flexible plan and apply this to keep your data safe. You can also seek input from your IT support.
• Equip yourself with new-age skills
Finally, upgrade your cyber security skill sets by having someone personally trained. Remember that just as hacking technology becomes more tricky, so does anti-hacking security technology. We would advise you to consult an IT company for the latest technology.
About IT-MSP
IT-MSP was founded in 2017 to provide London’s small & medium businesses with end-to-end IT services, right from purchasing and installing hardware to providing Mac, Windows & Linux support, cloud solutions, and data backup. We support our clients using proven, high-quality systems and security practices that blue-chip companies take for granted.
We consistently achieve excellent client satisfaction thanks to a process-driven approach, concise documentation and our team of friendly and highly trained London based engineers.
Youssef Baiza
Director
