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«Black Friday actually really gets going only on Cyber Monday,» explains Antti Partanen, Vice President Security at Sunrise. «There are lots of people in Switzerland who delay their purchases so they can get a cheap deal during this week.» Fraudsters hope that, buried under the flood of emails we receive during this period, customers might accidentally click on the wrong link. To stop fraudsters from succeeding, Sunrise implements security measures, but there are plenty of ways for customers to protect themselves too.
Enable 2FA for online shops
In the run-up to Black Friday, Sunrise experts are massively increasing the security precautions in the customer portal and updating the systems, and Sunrise is stepping up its use of «2FA», two-factor authentication.
«True cybersecurity combines advanced technology and best practices.»
Antti Partanen, Vice President Security at Sunrise.
Just recently, Sunrise customers were asked to activate the 2FA functionality in their My Sunrise account. Antti Partanen doesn’t understand why some people have trouble with 2FA and don’t use it. «Every bank requires its customers to use it. But outside the financial sector, customers are reluctant to embrace it.» And Antti Partanen says the reason customers most commonly give is that «nothing’s ever happened to me yet».
Two-factor authentication
2FA uses two different authentication factors to confirm a person’s identity. There are different types of 2FA. The first step is usually similar to the traditional login procedure, with a person entering their username and password. In the second step, a numerical code may be sent to your mobile phone and you then need to enter this code on the website. In any event, 2FA enhances security when a user wants to access confidential data or offers on the Internet.
From the start of 2025, 2FA will increasingly become obligatory for My Sunrise account holders. Partanen recommends doing this now – before Black Friday – because 2FA makes it more difficult for fraudsters to access your customer account.
It’s every fraudster’s objective to gain access to your data. They can do it in a variety of ways, such as phishing (via email), smishing (via SMS) or vishing (via voice, i.e. over the phone).
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As an example, the expert recommends that customers do the following before Black Friday / Cyber Monday week:
Activate 2FA if it’s offered
Change the most important passwords at least, and use strong versions
Use a separate password for each account
Keep passwords safe and don’t share them with anyone
During Black Friday week especially, it’s really important to follow the following basic rules and take preventive action to protect yourself:
Verify email senders
Don’t click on any links in emails; enter website names directly in the browser
Use a reliable Internet security app such as Sunrise Protect; it gives comprehensive cyber protection and also protects your devices and digital data
Be extra cautious with offers that seem too good to be true (paper, posters and TV advertising are usually more trustworthy because the effort required to produce them is too much for most fraudsters)
When paying, you should choose the following services:
Services that don’t require credit-card details (TWINT, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay)
Prepaid cards (e.g. from your bank)
Virtual credit cards (e.g. Wise)
Single-use credit cards (e.g. Revolut)
In addition, don’t provide any personal information such as birthdays, credit-card numbers or bank-account details – a reputable provider won’t need them.
Antti Partanen is well aware that «when it’s more difficult for the fraudster to get hold of data, customers are more secure». In the end, he says with a smile: «Black Friday’s like the Oktoberfest. People mistakenly believe that anything goes and behave on the Internet as if they’re in a beer tent, caught up in all the exhilaration.» And in the midst of all this exhilaration, things can happen that, in retrospect, some people will wish hadn’t.
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