PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Cybersecurity experts are once again sending out a warning to shoppers this holiday season: buyer beware.
"Because of the world situation, the supply situation, people are pushed to shop online more and sooner," said Don Gray of PacketViper.
"Hackers are a learned bunch. They are very good at learning and finding holes in things so they will be more equipped this year than they were last," added Terrill Frantz of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.
Gray and Frantz acknowledged as hackers become more equipped, so do companies in safeguarding information.
Both cybersecurity experts said it's 'good business' for companies to invest in security as breaches can cause a loss of customers that can impact shareholders. They can also be reported to the SEC. They said, therefore, larger businesses tend to have better security.
"If it's Johnny's store at the corner dot com you want to be a little more careful about that," said Frantz.
Gray and Frantz warned shoppers to watch out for deals that seem too good to be true or deals that are advertised with a sense of urgency for customers to act.
"What they're playing to is our human conditioning towards responding to good deals as quick as possible before the deal goes away," said Frantz.
The experts suggested that customers also pay by credit card online instead of debit as many times credit gives customers more options to get their money back in light of a scam.
Gray also suggested people use different passwords for different websites, use two-step authentication, and use a trusted password manager.