Holiday e-commerce is expected to jump this year by about 17% over last year, and shoppers will be flocking to mobile devices more often to make those purchases.

It is also the time to be cautious and protect your personal data security.   We received a great “happy Thanksgiving…but….” email from our friends at Kroll, and wanted to pass it on.

As you may know, more than 75% of annual online sales occur in the 4 weeks between black Friday and the weekend before Christmas. Therefore, the hackers, scammers and spammers will be working overtime. Please remind your family, friends and clients of the following helpful pointers:

1. Be cautious of any deal too good to be true.

2. Update your web browser at a minimum; it would be ideal to update the Operating System and Security Software as well.

3. Avoid shopping on public wi-fi.

4. Update your Anti-Virus Scanner.

5. Look for a padlock icon or a URL the starts with https:// when browsing and shopping online.

6. Avoid shopping on unfamiliar sites and clicking on links for “freebies” or “coupon codes”.

And have a happy Thanksgiving and a happy Hanukkah!