Give the gift of constant online protection

Note: This is a sponsored post but always all opinions are 100% my own:

Barely recovering from Cyber Monday, the credit cards are out again

It’s December and the panic is starting to set in as people realize that Christmas is now literally only a handful of weeks away. More people are taking their shopping online changing the stress of gift shopping into a carefully managed spreadsheet list and less of a mad rush to get to the store event.

There is just one problem with the comfort of finding amazing deals online: are they legitimate?

During this time of year, hackers are ready to use all their tools to steal your information so they too can embark on a shopping spree but with your credit card.

It Won’t Happen To Me

Yes, that is what most people think. However, according to a recent Bitdefender study, 1 in 3 Americans have been victims of a cyber-attack or know someone who has. This is not surprising considering that 69% of people using the internet readily share their home address and phone number.

While most people know to look for that secure lock symbol when making a purchase, for some reason we readily give out our personal info to any site when we want to sign up for their service. We never ask what they do with that information, where do they store it or indeed why do they need our home address for a service that doesn’t send anything to the home?

Having a credit card stolen is only part of the issue – there is usually a process with the financial institution to recover from that. However, when your identity is stolen, then this has a much greater impact. In fact, the Bitdefender survey found that more people are concerned about identity theft than over their own house being broken into!

What can you do to protect yourself?

When you are shopping for your year-end gifts, stick to the brand-name sites and try to avoid those unheard of websites where the offer is too good to pass up.

Typically online retailers have very similar prices. If you find a website offering the hottest product of the year at 70% off – that’s a red flag.

Be careful about clicking on links which seem to take you a special offer or a great coupon. They could be phishing scam trying to get your info.

I personally use Bitdefender in Autopilot Mode which is where the software keeps a constant watchful eye as I go about my daily online activities. As soon as Bitdefender encounters anything harmful it simply handles it for me.

Whenever I look at my Bitdefender notifications I am always surprised to see just how many phishing attempts have been made to steal information during my regular online activities.

WiFi is not always safe

While I am careful not to use free WIFI in malls and coffee shops sometimes there is no alternative option especially during travel days and at conferences. Since installing Bitdefender, this has become less of a concern as whenever I try to access a website which requires sensitive information, Bitdefender opens up its Safe Pay browser. Inside this browser, everything is encrypted and continue with my purchase knowing that no one can watch my activities.

So in Summary:

We like to be protected therefore we take out household insurance for those “just in case” moments even though only a handful of people ever have a need to claim. Yet, when it comes to protecting ourselves online, very few of us really take the necessary steps. In the past, online security was cumbersome with many daily technical decisions such as which ports to open, which applications can access which part of the operating system and many more.

However, Bitdefender has taken these and wrapped them into a simple to use application that does the hard-technical thinking for you. And if you would like to tinker with the settings, of course, you can do that too.

As we head into the vulnerable time of year, I would strongly suggest adding Bitdefender to your gift list. Providing safety for those you love is the perfect present for all those people who are on the nice list and especially to those people who are on the naughty list!

Check it out here: http://amzn.to/2ArrSoy

Note: this is a sponsored post but as always opinions are 100% my own.