Cyber Security On Cyber Monday: Why We Celebrate It And How To Shop Safely

Cyber Monday has become one of the biggest online shopping days of the year — and, predictably, one of the busiest days of the year for online scammers. Here’s why we celebrate Cyber Monday, what cyber security actually means, and how to grab the deals without handing your card details to a criminal.

Why We Celebrate Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is the Monday after the US Thanksgiving holiday. The name was coined in the mid-2000s, when retailers noticed a spike in online sales as people returned to work after the Black Friday weekend and kept shopping from their desks. Since then it has grown into a global event: online retailers around the world time their biggest promotions of the year to the Black Friday–Cyber Monday window, and billions are spent online in a single day.

That concentration of shoppers, payments, and urgency is exactly what makes Cyber Monday attractive to cybercriminals. Millions of people are entering card details on new websites, clicking discount links in emails, and rushing to beat countdown timers — the perfect environment for fraud. Which is why Cyber Monday is also a good moment to talk about the other “cyber”: cyber security.

What Is Cyber Security?

Cyber security — internet security, information security — is the sum of the tools, settings, and habits that keep your devices, your network, and your data safe. Our phones, computers, cars, homes, and even household appliances are now connected, which is wonderfully convenient and also means every one of them is a potential way in. Hundreds of millions of new malware samples are catalogued every year, alongside phishing campaigns, social media scams, and attacks on smart devices.

For an everyday internet user, a solid security setup has a few layers:

• Malware protection — a reputable antivirus/anti-malware tool, kept up to date;
• Updates — automatic updates on your OS, browser, apps, and router firmware;
• Strong authentication — unique passwords in a password manager, plus two-factor authentication on important accounts;
• Safe habits — skepticism toward unexpected links, attachments, and "urgent" requests;
• An encrypted connection — a VPN, which secures the traffic itself.

If the rest are bricks in your wall of computer security, a VPN is the mortar holding the wall together. A VPN (virtual private network) encrypts your data before it leaves your device and routes it through a secure server, so anyone snooping on the network — for instance, on the public Wi-Fi where you’re doing your Cyber Monday browsing — sees only unreadable scrambled data. It also masks your real IP address, which reduces tracking and geo-targeted price manipulation.

Cyber Monday Threats To Watch For

The scams that spike every shopping season are remarkably consistent:

• Fake shops and lookalike domains. Sites that imitate well-known retailers (or invent too-good-to-be-true stores) take your payment and vanish, or harvest your card details. Check the address bar carefully and be suspicious of prices dramatically below everyone else's.
• Phishing emails and texts. "Your order could not be delivered", "Your payment failed — update your card": fake messages designed to steal logins and card numbers. Go to the retailer's site directly instead of clicking.
• Malicious ads and links. Deal aggregators and social media are flooded with links during sales week; some lead to malware or credential-stealing pages.
• Public Wi-Fi snooping. Shopping from a café or airport hotspot without encryption exposes your session to anyone on the same network.
• Account takeover. Criminals test leaked passwords against retail accounts with saved cards. A unique password and 2FA shut this down.

How To Shop Safely On Cyber Monday

A short checklist before you chase the deals:

• Buy from retailers you know, and type their address yourself or use bookmarks;
• Pay by credit card or a payment service with buyer protection rather than direct bank transfer;
• Never save your card on a site you'll use once;
• Make sure your device and browser are fully updated before the shopping spree, not after;
• Use unique passwords and 2FA on every shopping account and, above all, on your email;
• Connect through a VPN — especially on shared or public Wi-Fi — so your payment details travel encrypted;
• Afterwards, keep an eye on your card statements for charges you don't recognize.

Secure Every Device, Not Just One

Cyber Monday shopping happens on phones as much as laptops, so your protection should follow you across devices. Le VPN offers apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, secure protocols including OpenVPN and WireGuard, and servers in 100+ locations worldwide. One account covers up to 10 simultaneous connections — enough for the whole household’s shopping devices — and your first purchase is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Why we celebrate Cyber Monday has nothing to do with computer security — but how safely you get through it has everything to do with it. Layer your defenses, encrypt your connection, and enjoy the deals with peace of mind.