Kaspersky launches new interactive Black Friday tool

With Black Friday set to kick off this Friday, which will see over half (55%) of us take to the web to get the best deals, Kaspersky has launched an all-new interactive tool that will help consumers identify the difference between a deal and a dupe site.

The tool will help educate buyers on the differences between a legitimate website, and dupe websites, carefully-disguised cyberthreats, when making online purchases. This comes as Kaspersky researchers reveal that there has been a 15% increase in e-commerce cyber-attacks in the past year, whilst Black Friday and seasonal shopping days like Cyber Monday see the likelihood of financial phishing attacks increase by 24%.

Consumers can use the tool here to educate themselves on the key warning areas to look out for – and some general tips for shopping protection are here:

• Invest in a robust cybersecurity solution to protect all your devices you use to shop online.
• Use unique, complex passwords for every online account.  If this seems too difficult, make a password manager the first thing you treat yourself to this Black Friday.
• Use extra caution when using your mobile device for online purchases. Shortened URLs, often used because they are phone-friendly, can hide the fact that they lead to a risky site. If you must make a transaction then and there, switch Wi-Fi off and use mobile data. Otherwise wait until you are back on a secured connection.
• Avoid shopping on websites that appear suspicious or flawed, no matter how great their Black Friday deals are.
• Don’t click on unfamiliar links you receive in emails or social media messages, even from people you know, unless you were expecting the message.
• Reduce the amount of funds you have in your bank and online accounts or use a pre-paid card for online payments. The greater the balance, the more can be lost to fraudster.
• Restrict the number of attempted transactions on your bank card.
• Turn on and always use two-factor authentication (Verified by Visa, MasterCard Secure Code, etc.