12 Don'ts from McAfee this Christmas
The festive season is near and so are the cybercriminals who are getting ready to steal Internet user’s money, their social security number and the credit card number.
In a bid to warn the net users in advance McAfee have listed out 12 popular Christmas scams that need to be looked out for and avoid falling into its traps.
Festive seasons are the time when cyber criminals come out with unique schemes, so convincing that many people do fall into their traps, revealing their personal details. From Malwares to even charities the list is endless.
According to VP, McAfee labs, Jeff Green the cyber criminals follow seasonal trends. They create seasonal theme based scams, web sites and email campaign, all of which so convincing and true that even the most cautious net user falls for it. According to McAfee people should avoid online shopping when they are using open Wi-Fi hotspots or when using a public PC.
Net users should also be cautious when initiating a search for Christmas related stuffs and especially avoid clicking those links and image ads for Christmas wallpapers, ringtones and carols. Those links usually transfer them to a page with adware, spyware and similar programs which download malware on the user’s PC.
If you get a mail from your bank or your social networking site asking you to reset your password ignore that mail. Interestingly such type of scams are increasing alarmingly these include ransom ware, stealing password and job scams where people are asked to pay a setup amount after which the site simply hangs.
According to McAfee net users should use their common sense when determining a legitimate product offer. They should avoid clicking on the email link instead manually launch the browser and go thru the official website. Users should change their password frequently and have different passwords for different accounts.
Installing latest security software and keeping it up-to-date would help people protect their ID, Passwords and the PCs. McAfee has also setup an online cybercrime response unit where users who suspect they have fallen prey to a scam can login and receive guidance.
