Online shopping is a great way to reduce Christmas shopping stress levels, with a whole wealth of stores at your fingertips and not a queue in sight. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean buying online is without its own complications and risks. Cyber Monday (the biggest online shopping day of the year) is just around the corner, not to mention Christmas is now a mere month away; so we expect a lot of you will start surfing the web for presents this weekend. iFashion has been advised by IT security expert Wolfgang Kandek at IT security company Qualys on the best ways to stay safe online this year. You may think you have found a bargain, but between 2009 and 2010 harmful websites increased by a huge 111%, putting more visitors at risk than ever before.

Wolfgang offered some great tips to reduce the risk of encountering cyber criminality; helping outline some of the most popular scams and hacking methods currently circulating. Hackers do unfortunately target retail sites in an attempt to steal credit card information of to take control of a user’s computer. Watch out for fake or suspicious links to malicious websites posing as trusted shopping sources. Emails and e-greeting cards also contain these dodgy links and are often distributed by hackers. Group buying and coupon sites are often found to be popular hacker locations. Fake links to new sites promoting discounts for holidays and expensive goods can crop up via email, Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging and even some search engines.

This may sound very threatening but it shouldn’t put you off shopping online. Simple steps can be taken to ensure your details and computer remains secure. First of all, if the link looks, or appears to come from a dodgy source, don’t open it! Avoid opening e-cards or coupon links from unknown users and the same applies to links sent from social networking sites. If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Protect your bank details by making sure your computer is adequately aided with the latest updates and safety technology. Make sure your-operating system (be it Windows/Mac OS X) is running the most updated version as cyber criminals like to target old systems with well-known flaws. Wolfgang outlined how to check your computers current version:

- Windows users: click “start” then “Window’s update”. You can find this by using the search bar on the start menu. The window will alert you if any new updates need to be installed.
- Mac OS X users, do the same thing by going through “Software Update” in the Apple Menu.

Your internet browser (Explorer, Chrome, Safari or Firefox) may have “plugins” from which to play music and video games. Unfortunately, these plugins aren’t included in system updates so are prime targets for hackers. To double check your plugin and browser software is safe, Wolfgang recommends you visit a browser check website such as Qualys (click HERE). The free and easy to use tool called BrowserCheck will improve browser security and evaluate security issues.

Finally, make sure you have an anti-virus installed on your PC or Mac. There are some free and affordable versions available online. Qualys recommends Norton Anti-virus or AVG Free if you are looking for a low/no-cost alternative.

So there you have it, some top tips for staying cyber-safe this season. It might not be as exciting as reading about the latest designer collaboration but by taking out a few minutes to check your computer safety, you can ensure you have a happy and stress free Christmas!