This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube video titled "12 Scams of Christmas to Watch For @McAfeeConsumer" (published 2012-11-27). The excerpt is a short interview/segment between a host (Speaker A) and security expert Robert Siciliano discussing holiday online shopping scams—fake websites, malicious apps and social media pages, and advice to shop trusted sites, use HTTPS and security software, and monitor credit card statements.
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Meanwhile, before you point and click something that could make you sick, very sick, because while you're shopping, guess who's snooping? Not your boss. I'm talking someone even worse. Security expert Robert Siciliano on who that might be. Who's snooping?
Bad guys. They, uh, this is their time of year. They are online setting up fake websites, uh, creating malicious applications, and, uh, they're trying to get your credit card information.
Now, how do you avoid this sort of thing? Like, the fake websites that look so real. What do you do?
So the best thing is to shop where you know, you like, you trust. Go to websites that you've done business with before in your favorites menu. Be careful in search. If you search out products and services and you go to websites you're not familiar with, you could end up giving credit card information to this, you know, fly-by-night website. And make sure that your PC is secure with antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, and a firewall. Be careful of the mobile applications you download and where you get them from. And check your credit card statements as well. You have to look at your credit card statements weekly this time of year and make sure that you refute any unauthorized charges within 2 billing cycles, or you're going to pay for the Christmas of an identity thief.
Well, what do they do? I mean, if you're on, let's say, a social site or any of these other, you know, popular blog sites that allow you to shop as well, that's where they can— what? They can retrieve Anything you send, or they nab it? How do— what do they do?
So on social media sites, bad guys set up fake pages, and those fake pages are designed to either get you to click links, to enter information for a quiz or a contest, to get a discount. And once you start clicking these links, you can infect your page, and ultimately you could also infect your own device, your PC, your mobile. And they gather your personal information. They could compromise your PC. And so really, when you see these status updates that look like they're too good to be true, just ignore them, hit delete, and move forward.
What about the argument for the omnibus retail online sites, the Amazons or the Walmarts, even eBay, where the chances of being, you know, hacked appear to be smaller? What do you think of that?
Yeah, great question. And I shop at all those sites, and you should. But just again, just pay attention to your statements. Those sites spend millions on on security. They have, um, they've done their due diligence with the IT professionals and security software to make sure that they're secure. Uh, and as long as you're, you know, shopping where it says HTTPS in the address bar, it's generally a secure page. Uh, and again, check your statements. Okay. Wise advice all. Robert Siciliano, thank you.
