You better watch out! Otherwise, you may be giving the gift of malware or unauthorized access to networks and devices.

9 Slides

Here we are with the end-of-year holidays upon us, and so much pressure to give, give, give. But before you go and click your way across Amazon or BestBuy.com, think for just a minute: Would Oprah give away cars without locks or airbags? No, she would not and neither should you, especially if you're planning to buy technology for everyone on your list.

And that's where things can start to get a little fraught. Of course we all want to give a cool, useful, desired, connected gift, without exposing the recipient to malware, default passcode vulnerabilities or worse. Regardless of your creed or traditions, ransomware makes a crap gift.

So we've put together this helpful list to help you avoid the common pitfalls with technology gifts or holiday staples that find themselves networked with IP addresses and wireless connectivity.

What items did we miss on our list? Be one of Santa's virtual helpers and tell us in the comments. In the meantime, shop til you drop and save those receipts.

About the Author(s)

Terry Sweeney, Contributing Editor

Terry Sweeney is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered technology, networking, and security for more than 20 years. He was part of the team that started Dark Reading and has been a contributor to The Washington Post, Crain's New York Business, Red Herring, Network World, InformationWeek and Mobile Sports Report.

In addition to information security, Sweeney has written extensively about cloud computing, wireless technologies, storage networking, and analytics. After watching successive waves of technological advancement, he still prefers to chronicle the actual application of these breakthroughs by businesses and public sector organizations.


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