Happy Thanksgiving Day

Filed Under: Spam

Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all American readers of the Clu-blog.

It's just a regular working day in many parts of the world, but in America many people will be tucking into a large dinner with their family and friends. It's a time to turn off your computer and appreciate some of the offline aspects of your life. I hope you have a great time.

Thanksgiving is, also, the kickoff for the holiday shopping season in the United States - and people will, no doubt, be queuing up in the wee small hours of the morning, outside stores in the hope of getting a bargain. With the credit crunch biting hard there's probably never been a more appropriate time to save some cents.

Of course, if you don't manage to bag yourself a bargain in the flesh this weekend you may take advantage of a phenomenon that the media call "Cyber Monday" - where workers who return to the office on Monday morning turn to the internet to find a bargain rather than tire out their shoe leather.

The temptation of low shipping costs, discounts and avoiding the crush of the crowd makes online shopping all the more alluring.

So, please remember if you go online to find yourself a bargain to follow safe computing best practice to avoid malware, phishing and other scams. The crooks don't take a break just because it's a holiday.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

About the author

Graham Cluley is senior technology consultant at Sophos. The readers of Computer Weekly voted him security blogger of the year in 2009 and 2010, and he pipped Stephen Fry to the title of "Twitter user of the year" too. Which was nice. He was also named "Best Security Blogger" by the readers of SC Magazine in 2011. You can subscribe to Graham's updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.