Winter is always the best time for shoppers, isn’t it? Thanksgiving has just passed and Christmas is coming. The atmosphere is like an invisible flyer, leading us to all the sales and goods we’ve been longing for the whole year.

Online shopping is convenient and fun, but are you aware of malicious websites that steal your personal information such as your credit card details, name or address? By mimicking official shopping sites, phishing websites disguise themselves to trick you signing in your account with password, and further snitch your private information for cybercriminal conduct.

We prepare this tip called C.A.S.T for you to shop online without worry.

First of all, CHECK all the resources destined to external websites carefully, a link in an Email, a banner on a website, or even a url from your friend. Once you click on a malicious link, you might receive a malware and get yourself in trouble.

CHECK 3 things of the url and website you are visiting.

• – Is the url (site’s name) correctly spelled?
• – Does it start with https:// ? (Read: Why is https safer?)
• – Are there slight differences in the website?

It’s not a Where’s Willy game but you have to keep your eyes open to recognize those little differences in order to keep you from falling into a bad guy’s trap.

Having done that, if something smells bad, do ASK. Ask your friends if they sent the link on their own behalves. Ask the online shop if they’d sent a promotional email which included the link you got. Go to a forum or website which keeps a list of all the phishing websites and see if the suspicious url is on the list.

Here are two example websites

• – Phishtank: https://www.phishtank.com/
• – Scanurl: http://scanurl.net/

The S stands for SHAKE. You are right. Shake it, mix it, twirl it! Not your body but your account name and password.

Your password shouldn’t be your phone number or social security number, because with digital engineering technology, hackers are able to easily crack or guess your password. Here are several rules you can follow:

• the longer, the better – numerous permutations make it difficult to break within a short time
• Use non-English word combinations to make it illogical.
• Don’t use your personal information, such as your birthday, phone number, bank account, or name.

Simply said, your password should make no sense, at least to people other than you.

Too complicated to follow along? So difficult that you almost want to give up on shopping online?

The last “T”, 360 Total Security prepares everything you need for you to shop online with your eyes half closed.

With 360 Total Security antivirus on your PC, you no longer have to worry about downloading a file containing viruses or trojan, or your files being hijacked by ransomware. (Learn more about ransomware) Other than protecting your local files and operating system, 360 Total Security has 360 TurboVPN and 360 Internet Security specifically for preventing online threats.

360 TurboVPN builds a secure connection to the Internet, so your information is all encrypted and sent through a “detoured” tunnel. That being said, even when you are using public wifi, snoopers are unable to listen to your online communications. Another attractive benefit is that you can use 360 TurboVPN to get better deals. Shopping sites often offer cheaper flight tickets or hotels for customers from different region, so you will see prices change when you switch IP to different countries.

Specifically developed for online shopping, 360 Internet Security is a browser plugin that detects malicious websites and warns you of online threats. When you visit a shopping site, it would automatically turn on Shopping Protection and instantly give you a higher level online protection. Even when you accidentally download a suspicious file, it would activate 360 Total Security antivirus to keep your PC clean. (Learn more about 360 Internet Security)

Everyone should keep in mind that the number of online threats is growing exponentially everyday, yet they are easily ignored. It’s our job to create a safer Internet environment for you and keep your digital life uninterrupted by cyber criminals. The only thing you need to take care is to turn on 360 Total Security and have fun shopping!