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Syracuse-area IT Experts Warn On-Line Shoppers to Protect Their Information

NYS Office of Information Technology Services
/
its.ny.gov

Many Central New Yorkers probably don’t give a second thought to shopping on-line on Cyber Monday or any other time of the year.  Some might even get caught up with the deals, and not be as careful as they should be.

"There's a lot of emotional shopping going on," Radley said.  "When you're caught up in the excitement, you're less likely to pay attention to pop-ups or addresses that look strange because you're looking at the price or the sale."

Experts like Bryant and Stratton Syracuse IT Manager Marie Radley and others are warning consumers not to be too complacent about on-line safety.

"It becomes mundane to us," Radley said.  "It's a part of our everyday fabric.  It's almost an assumed safety...until something happens."

David Vorhees, Associate Professor and Director of Computer Science at Le Moyne College.  He agrees with Radley that we’re accustomed to browsing and even buying anything on-line these days.

"There's no such thing as perfect security.  It doesn't exist."

But he says shoppers can take simple steps to ensure their safety.

"If you're using a browser, just look at that URL, the address bar, and make sure that looks legitimate," Vorhees said.  "If you're going to amazon.com, that it really says 'amazon.com' and not something else.”                                                

Credit staysafeonline.org

The same goes for suspicious e-mails with tempting links.  Marie Radley with Bryant and Stratton says not all of them are bad, but there are plenty that are phishing for your information.

"They'll open the email without looking at who it's from," Radley said.  "You get the teaser content, and you say "Oh, they have a 42 inch TV  for $199, and they open it up, and you take the link.  We've all been there.  It's not at all what you thought it was going to be.”                                                      

If you’re just not sure about the legitimacy of a particular website, Professor Vorhees says others might know.

"Post something in one of your social networks, and ask your friends if they've heard of this on-line store, and see what people say."

As an extra measure of security, Vorhees and Radley also strongly suggest avoiding using public wi-fi for on-line purchases just to eliminate the risk of someone accessing your personal information.  

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.