Taking Security Best Practice During Festive Season

As the year-end approaches, most people are planning extended holidays to reunite with family and friends, purchase new goods, or travel abroad. With online services becoming increasingly prevalent, citizens should remain vigilant about cybersecurity risks during the festive period.

Hackers may take advantage of the holiday season to launch attacks on internet users. From the hackers’ perspective, compared to other types of cyberattacks, phishing attacks are a low-cost and less labor-intensive method. In addition to launching phishing attacks to lure users into providing personal information, hackers can expand their scope of attack by stealing users’ login credentials and then impersonating the targeted users to conduct identity attacks on their family and friends.

The Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) urges the public to be vigilant about suspicious URL links and verify the authenticity of such URLs before providing personal information.

To enjoy safe travel and worry-free shopping in the digital age, consider adopting the following cybersecurity best practices when traveling and shopping online.

For security best practices when travelling abroad:

1. Use personal device to log into personal accounts and avoid using public devices;
2. Use trusted public Wi-Fi connections, avoid to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots with low security settings;
3. Check any malicious logins in your online accounts;
4. Check carefully when purchasing goods using mobile payments; verify the payment receiver and the amount before confirming and proceeding with the payment;
5. If required to access a webpage or scan QR code, verify if the URL of the website is legitimate before entering any information;
6. Do not open any links or attachments sent to overseas SIM cards. It might be related to phishing attacks;
7. If necessary, install applications only from official websites and app stores;
8. Do not charge your device at unknown public charging port to avoid Juice Jacking attacks;
9. Do not leave your device unattended; and
10. Power off your devices at home and office if they are no use, and power off your portable devices when it is not in use overnight during travel.

For security best practices when shopping online:

1. Don’t click on any links or attachments from an unknown sender. Always enter the URL of the online shopping platform directly in your browser or use bookmarks. Be careful with the legitimacy of the links and emails. For example, check for spelling and grammatical errors in the URL, or whether the sender is trustworthy. If the website does not use HTTPS for encryption, please be careful and do not provide sensitive information;
2. Change the account password of the online shopping platform regularly. Use different passwords for different accounts to prevent a cascading impact if one of them is compromised;
3. If the platform supports multi-factor authentications, enable it to enhance security;
4. Place orders or check order status from the official website or mobile app only;
5. Do not save any sensitive information, such as credit card information, in online accounts;
6. Check your online payment records regularly for suspicious transactions;
7. If you receive a suspicious email or instant message, please verify the details at official channels. Do not provide sensitive information to an unknown sender;
8. Adopt anti-phishing features in web browsers to help block phishing attacks, and
9. Use the free search engine “Scameter” of Cyberdefender.hk to identify frauds and online pitfalls through email, URL or IP address, etc.

For more information, please visit HKCERT’s “Best Cybersecurity Practices During the Festive Season.”