Protecting your credit cards from hackers while shopping

Over the weekend information was stolen from 5 million credits and debit cards used at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. 

Cyber security experts say these breaches happen everyday and you usually don’t hear about it. Most times hackers are racking up on stolen identity and financial information from mom and pop shops. 

Michael McCartney is the president at Avalon Cyber Services in Buffalo. He deals with a lot of businesses that are hacked. McCartney said that information more often than not is sold on the dark web, where illegal activity happens on the internet. 

“The more we put out there. the more people will try to take,” McCartney said. 

There are ways to prevent this from happening to you. Checking your credit report, monthly credit car and bank statements is a must. Also, subscribe to a credit monitoring service. McCartney said he only expects this problem to get worse as technology advances. 

“It’s very inexpensive and it’s the first line of defense you have as to whether or not your identity or financial information is being used by some unauthorized user,” McCartney said. 

Cyber security experts say if your account is hacked you should do these following things. 

*Immediately get the account suspended. 
*Make a report with your financial agency. 
*Request new cards with different account numbers. 
*Make a police report as well. 
*Use cash whenever possible. 

You can find out about the latest scams and breaches by going  to https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/upstate-new-york