Letter from the Editor
Every year, after our Thanksgiving dinner, my family and I head out for early Black Friday shopping. I’ll admit that I’ve woven through massive crowds and waited in long lines for a great deal on a cute sweater, a video game at half-price, and other discounted novelties. As the shopping season commences, we also keep an eagle eye out for price-cuts on merchandise while shopping from the comfort of our home. We visit the websites of e-Commerce giants like Amazon, online counterparts of department stores, and other web-based merchants. Over the years, Black Friday has bloomed into a bigger Holiday Hype to include, not only Cyber Monday, but Cyber Week, 12 Days of Deals and other marketing tactics to keep shoppers bustling for better bargains.
In the quest for deep discounts online, we must keep in mind that the biggest shopping season of the year is also characterized by a surge in Internet scams and identity theft. Hackers and scammers target frantic and distracted online shoppers who will impulsively purchase their desired items at the cheapest price resulting in unwanted surprises. Hacked bank accounts, financial fraud and identity theft are the results of successful scams, phishing attacks and security breaches. Consumers’ unwary actions lead to compromised credit card numbers, home address, passwords to online shopping accounts and more. With the proper precautions, these undesirable outcomes are avoidable. Already, 2017 is a record-breaking year for online shopping, so as you peruse the World Wide Web in the hunt for gifts that bring glad tidings, keep in mind that online deals that seem really nice might actually be naughty attempts to harvest your personal information for criminal endeavors.
In this edition of the iDrive Newsletter, we’ll expose the details of data breaches, Internet scams and other security threats that surge during the holidays. Since this is the season of giving, we, at iDrive, invite you to join our social media campaign and give the gift of cyber security. Help us shed light on the online shopping threats that are prevalent during the holidays! After you watch our PSA, we encourage you to take a few seconds to share our 5 practical tips that will help you and yours safe and secure while shopping online.
As we look forward to the upcoming New Year, the Advisory Board is calling all budding film-makers, aspiring broadcast journalists and script-writers, ages 13-18, to join in on our nationwide initiatives in 2018: Human Trafficking Awareness Month in January and #NoOneEatsAloneDay in February.
May your days be merry and bright, and may you shop safely and securely online!
Happy Holidays,
From all of us at iDrive
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