Is there anything harder than resisting a text supposedly from UPS offering a link to a tracking number? Honestly, I almost fell for it myself.

We’re in full swing with the holidays and that means the hackers are out. Whether it’s saving money or scrambling for a gift, shoppers often unsuspectedly fall for scams like fake ads, credit card schemes, and phishing emails masked as holiday deals. According to recently released data from the experts at Norton, 41% of people admit to risking their personal information online in some way during the holiday season. Don't let the holiday rush and after holiday sales scams get the best of you!

Before you start clicking away this holiday season, keep these tips in mind to avoid getting hacked when shopping online:

1) Make sure you're shopping on a secure website. When you're making a purchase, look for the security lock and the letters "https" in the web browser before you enter your credit card for purchase.

2) Check ratings of online sellers, avoid suspicious links from social media ads or unfamiliar emails.

3) Use a virtual private network (VPN) when making online purchases on public or unsecured Wi-Fi, such as Norton Secure VPN, when making online purchases on public or unsecured Wi-Fi.

4) Consider using a credit card instead of a debit card.

5) Watch out for “too good to be true” deals.

PRO TIP: USE Norton Safe Web to check for unsafe hyperlinks with the Link Guard Feature. And when shopping online, there’s a Norton Shopping Guarantee Trustmark, which means the merchant has been verified, so that you can check out confidently.

This post was sponsored by NORTON GEN.