By Paul Ducklin: The Thanksgiving weekend—some might call it the Super Bowl of shopping—is here, and it's set to hit record numbers, according to analysts. While this is good news for retailers, it's also a hunting ground for hackers and cybercriminals looking to score consumer information. Experts warn that while traditional techniques like phishing are still popular with cyber thieves, new methods using ads and offers on social media platforms are also gaining traction.

Every day is #BlackFriday

The most important cybersecurity lesson to learn from Black Friday is this: "Whatever you do to stay secure on Black Friday - keep on doing it all the time!" Cybercrooks are after you all the time. If a cybersecurity precaution is worth taking on Black Friday then it is worth taking every day of the year.

Here are some tips for online shopping safety:

• If it sounds too good to be true, it IS too good to be true. Don't take risks just because it's the shopping season
• Use a password manager. It will help you pick a proper password for every site, and it won't let you put the right password into the wrong site, which protects you from phishing.
• Consider getting a prepaid credit card for one-off purchases from new websites. A prepaid credit card has a fixed amount of money on it, which limits your risk if something goes wrong.

(Paul Ducklin is a Senior Technologist at Sophos)