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Holiday Shopping season is really an excited time for both shoppers and retailers, but unfortunately it's a good time for cyber criminals and scammers as well.
With Black Friday (28th November 2014) and Cyber Monday (1st December 2014) comiing up, you need to be more careful while shopping. These are the two very busy shopping days where shoppers spend millions online.
Every eye will be on retailers to ensure that consumers' online shopping experiences are straightforward and, most importantly, secure. So, at the major part, retailers need to pay attention to extra security measures in order to prevent themselves from massive data breaches, like Target data breach that occurred last year during the Black Friday sales in which over 40 million Credit & Debit cards were stolen.
Not just Target alone, multiple retailers including Neiman Marcus, Michaels Store were also targeted during last Christmas holiday, involving the heist of possibly 110 million Credit-Debit cards, and personal information.
So, in an effort to secure yourself from scammers you need to be aware of some top scams and tips to keep yourself safe online.


1. COPYCAT & FAKE WEBSITES
In order to fraud an online account holder's financial information, scammers could pose their website as a legitimate one. Like you got an email from Amazan.com for the hottest deals, and not Amazon, make sure before providing your financial details.
Check properly thrice who emails are from and if it's an unknown, best way is to avoid the email and the so-called hottest deal. Always go for a website using an HTTPS URL, before entering a password or any information like address or credit card number.
There are thousands of websites that closely resemble legitimate domains like Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. Apart from these, there are so many new sites offering online shopping, that it's quite difficult for customers to say which one is legitimate and which is not.
Many of these websites host exciting contests or advertisements for dodgy services to gain your attention and force your finger to click it, while others host malware that can infect your system when you browse to these websites.
So, to be in safer side, always shop from websites which you or your friends know. Just keep one thing in mind while shopping online that Website ratings and security seals can be faked and the website could look too good to be true, but probably it's not.
2. PHISHING WEBSITES
Phishing scams are typically fraudulent email messages, masquerading as a well known and trustworthy entity in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from victims. However, phishing attacks have become more sophisticated recently.
Keep an eye on scams emails claiming to come from legitimate sources which will ask you to visit a website actually hosted by cyber crooks in order to steal your personal information like email addresses, passwords, credit card numbers, expiration date, verification code, and more.
Always type website name in Google Search Engine and then visit the particular website from those search results, instead visiting through any link provided in messages or emails. Don't go to websites you've never heard of.
3. UNEXPECTED GIFTS SCAM
A year ago during Black Friday, one of the major scams was the cyber criminals offering $1,000 Best Buy gift cards, which nobody won. But, a lot of people ended up in giving away their personal information for no reason at all.
Online users are recommended to avoid such "unexpected gifts" scams, just like your dear ones recommend you to not accept unexpected gifts from strangers. Emails could be a major medium to offer you unwanted gifts, so be careful when opening attachments you receive by email - that special delivery could end up costing you.
4. FAKE ADS AND COUPONS
Customers on holiday season are always on search for great deals, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but your just a small mistake can lead you to danger. Miscreants use your desires by creating 'click-bait' ads or posting links to 'the best deal ever', which will always lead to either a survey, a scam site or even drive-by exploits.
Customers are advised to treat such offers with skepticism, especially when the source is unknown and unfamiliar to you. You are also advised to keep an updated Antivirus software onto their systems, so if any convincing advert does trick you and gain your click, your AV protects you against infection.
In addition to fake ads for Best Buy, users also want to look out for fake online coupons in general. If it sounds too good to be true, visit directly to reputable websites, and, by some miracle, the offer is true because it's Black Friday sales, it's all yours.

 News: Source-- Computerworld.com

A Pennsylvania man who hacked into multiple corporate, university and government computer networks and tried to sell access to them -- including access to supercomputers from a U.S. national security laboratory -- has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Andrew Miller, 24, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy and two counts of computer fraud for actions committed between 2008 and 2011, when he was part of the Underground Intelligence Agency hacking group, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. Miller was sentenced Wednesday.
Miller asked an undercover FBI agent in 2011 for $50,000 in exchange for access to two supercomputers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, according to the DOJ.
The Oakland, California, lab belongs to the national laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Science and is managed by the University of California, according to its website. The supercomputers Miller claimed he had accessed were part of the lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).
According to court documents, the FBI never "bought" the access credentials for the lab, but it did obtain from Miller proof that he had accessed two supercomputers that provide computing resources for the U.S. Department of Energy. He told the FBI got the access after breaking into a Japanese university with connections to the NERSC.
The FBI did buy from Miller access to computer servers from RNKTel.com, a Massachusetts telecommunications provider. Miller also sold to the undercover agents access to servers from Colorado ad agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky which hosted websites, databases and email servers from a variety of merchants, including from Domino's Pizza.
The FBI also bought from Miller what court documents describe as a "massive database of thousands of log-in credentials into hundreds of computer networks" which he said he obtained by hacking into servers from Layered Tech, a Texas Internet service provider.
Miller's modus operandi consisted of breaking into computer networks via a variety of methods, including targeting specific authorized network users and infecting their computers with malware, which allowed him to steal their log-in information.
Then, once inside the network, he would look for valuable information, such as log-in information from other users, and he would install "backdoors" with his own passwords. This allowed him to return to the networks while bypassing security and to potentially sell access to them to cybercriminals.
In computer chats with the undercover agents, Miller claimed to have hacked into servers from American Express, Yahoo, Google, Adobe, Wordpress, Cisco, Harvard University and the University of California at Davis. He also claimed to have accessed very sensitive U.S. government networks from agencies including NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.

In a filing with the court in November, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz called Miller's actions "widespread, persistent and pernicious hacking" and said he was aware he was breaking the law, but she also said it's not clear how much actual damage he caused.
"Likewise, he did not successfully monetize his hacking activities," Ortiz wrote, adding that the government is only aware of a $500 sale completed before the undercover agent got in touch with Miller.
Ortiz recommended an 18-month sentence, three years of supervised release and monetary penalties of about $16,000 to U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf of the District of Massachusetts.
However, in letters to the court, Miller and members of his family, including his mother and father, pleaded for him to be spared jail time, saying he was very sorry for his actions, is seeing a psychiatrist for depression, and is needed at home to help care for his mother, who is very ill.
Miller faced a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines for the three counts in his indictment that he pleaded guilty to. He had previously been convicted in 2004, when he was a minor, of being involved in writing malicious software, according to Ortiz's filing.

News : Source -- http://www.techienews.co.uk/

News : Source -- Written by Niraj Kashyap

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