Cybersecurity expert offers tips for Cyber Monday and online shopping for the holidays

Newswise — Shopping for holiday gifts online is becoming increasingly popular, with Cyber Monday unofficially kicking off the online shopping season. Ali Yayla, associate professor of information technology in the Binghamton University School of Management, offers these cybersecurity tips:

Use a credit card: If you're shopping online, you should be using a credit card with fraud protection. Try to avoid using debit cards if possible.

Delete your credit card info: While not saving your credit card information on your online shopping account may be an inconvenience, as you'd have to re-enter that information for every new transaction, it may prevent people who gain access to your account from using an auto-saved credit card.

Watch out for suspicious emails: Phishing schemes are the most concerning threat of online holiday shopping. You may see emails coming through that look like they are from Amazon or Best Buy with incredible offers, but are actually scams. Instead of clicking on the links in the email, go straight to the website yourself and see if the promotion is listed. If you can find the promotion on the website, then it is legitimate.

Take a breath: While no website is completely hack-proof, Amazon and other major retailers invest a lot into cybersecurity. As long as you're being smart with your actions and information, you can generally trust these major retailers when it comes to security.