G DATA Software AG: Antivirus, Virenschutz, Virenscanner, Internet Security

Bochum (Germany) December 03 2008 - Online shopping is convenient, price-conscious and stress-free. As the hectic pre-Christmas period gets under way, these are benefits that many people start appreciating, saving themselves the rush at shopping centres and long queues at the tills. A recent survey by industry association Bitkom indicates that online shopping is already in full swing for Christmas 2009. Over 10 million people in Germany alone are planning on sorting out their Christmas presents online. This will have online traders’ checkout tills ringing in a healthy fashion - and it’s a cake the black market also wants to take a bite out of. The G DATA Security Lab is therefore advising particular caution, as online fraud will be experiencing its own boom during the pre-Christmas period. The criminals’ favourite targets are: credit card information, bank details and access data for online shops and payment systems. Ralf Benzmüller, head of the G DATA Security Lab, indicates what to look out for and gives tips on secure online shopping.

Ralf Benzmüller, head of the G DATA Security Lab:
“This year we are recording yet another increase in online criminal activity during the pre-Christmas period. The number of bugs that have been going after users’ access data has itself risen significantly in recent weeks. However, healthy scepticism among users will doom many attempts at fraud to failure from the very outset. Recipients should never click on links in emails from unknown senders. Only too often there is a trap of some kind lurking behind the supposed Christmas greeting or top offer. Visiting a primed website will just cause one’s own computer to become infected with malware. A PC infected in this way can, for example, transmit access data for online shops or credit card information, without the user realising.”

Watch out for Christmas spam
Their eyes firmly set on the year’s end, spammers are also putting their money into Christmas and luring people in with Christmas offers. According to research by the G DATA Security Labs, the number of unsolicited e-mails offering luxury items has increased significantly. “We are advising everyone not to order anything on the basis of a spam email,” warns Ralf Benzmüller. However, dangers also lurk in social networks and user forums. Ralf Benzmüller advises caution here as well: “At the moment online criminals are especially active in social networks. There are vast quantities of forum spam offering supposed bargains. But this is just another big rip-off. The best swindled shoppers will get is overpriced, low-grade products instead of the expected brand-name goods. However this is often just a way to steal personal data or credit card information.” In the considered opinion of experts, spam should be consigned to the waste paper bin unread. Recipients should deal with unsolicited charity emails in the same way, as genuine aid organisations never send spam e-mails.

Tips for secure online shopping
1. Only shop in online shops that are trustworthy and have an established market presence. Avoid online shops that do not provide SSL encryption. These can easily be recognised by the lack of “https” in the browser address bar and by the lack of security lock in the browser’s status bar. After logging onto an online shop, you should not forget to log off again as well. Otherwise the cookies remain active and somebody else could use them to resume the shopping trip.

2. Use a payment process where funds are only remitted once the goods have been delivered in perfect condition or where you can claim a refund in the event of a problem. Never send money to foreign - especially Eastern European - Western Union or WebMoney accounts.

3. Comparing prices is good, but also check the reputation of the cheapest vendor carefully. ‘Teasers’ designed purely to steal credit card information have already been known in the past.

4. Online criminals like to store links to compromised websites on social networks. You should never click on a stored link and should always activate your security software’s http scanner. This will help prevent your PC becoming an easy target for drive-by downloads.

5. Unsolicited emails from aid organisations asking for donations generally belong in the recycle bin. Serious vendors never send spam.

6. If you receive e-cards from unknown senders, they should also go straight into the recycle bin. During the past year, online criminals have been using e-cards to smuggle in malware. This applies equally to screensavers, videos and other Christmas gimmicks.

7. Keep your version of Windows and your anti-virus program fully updated and install security updates and patches for the most important applications.

8. Choose powerful security packages which provide virus, phishing and spam protection, integrated with a powerful firewall, and which are permanently on the lookout for malware in http traffic.