‘Tis the season to be wary: 12 steps to ruin a cybercriminal's day

This article provides seasonal guidance for safer online shopping, highlighting prevalent holiday cybercrime tactics such as fake sellers and spoofed stores, phishing messages, malicious apps, account takeover via credential stuffing, and fraudulent gift cards. It emphasizes preventive measures including using strong unique passwords and 2FA, buying only from trusted brands and official app stores, verifying HTTPS, paying by credit card, monitoring financial accounts, avoiding public Wi‑Fi for purchases, and being cautious with unsolicited messages and pop-up ads.