The holiday season is not always ‘the most wonderful time of year’ when it comes to e-threats – there’s more online activity with many new shoppers and that can bring out the worst in the cybercriminal community. The recent launch of our eScan 11 security suite was focused on addressing the growing base of online users as well as the new generation of e-threats, and as we’ve learned from past years, the holidays are open season for these new and more sophisticated cybercrime and Internet attacks.
With this in mind, we would like to highlight two ways to protect you from “virtually” any cybercriminal (pun intended).
Consider a virtual keyboard – virtual keyboards, like those available through eScan, may be used to reduce the risk of keystroke logging, when cybercriminals track keys struck on a keyboard to steal credit card information. It is more difficult for malware to monitor the display and mouse to obtain the data entered via the virtual keyboard, than it is to monitor real keystrokes.
Use virtual credit cards – Sometimes referred to as a “throw away” credit card, this is a credit card number that is generated by credit card issuers for temporary use. Users don’t actually get a physical credit card with this number — they simply use the number for an online transaction and then it expires. It is also, sometimes, referred to as dynamic credit card number. This is available through most of the credit card companies through the online account and the credit card number can be refreshed for every purchase. Some companies generate it electronically and others provide an option to download an application to your desktop as well.
As per usual, be sure to keep your Anti-virus software updated and don’t forget to make sure you perform regularly scheduled scans which can eliminate known threats and we wish you good luck in finding the best holiday shopping bargains!
How often do you use virtual keyboards and virtual credit cards for your online shopping?
One Comment
Rosetta Stone English
You may have not intended to do so, but I think you have managed to express the state of mind that a lot of people are in. The sense of wanting to help, but not knowing how or where, is something a lot of us are going through.