UAE's online shoppers urged to stay safe this Christmas

"Shopping of any description can be a draining task at this time of year, so it is unsurprising that people are opting to stay at home and make their purchases online. The days of traipsing around malls or being forced to navigate overcrowded high-streets to get hold of must-have holiday gifts are coming to a close," said David Gorodyansky, CEO, AnchorFree.

"This is great news for consumers who value their freedom, time and flexibility, but it is important to be aware of the risks. Online disruptors and identity thieves are more powerful and sophisticated than ever before, so you need to be both aware and resilient."

Consumers are forecast to spend around $7.36bn online during the first two weeks of December, up from $6bn in the same period last year.
Almost $1.5bn - or 20% - of that figure is expected to be spent using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, according to the forecast from the e-retailers' industry body IMRG and consultants Capgemini.

E-commerce spikes of this nature are reflected in the number of downloads of AnchorFree's free Hotspot Shield solution, which encrypts every accessed web page and provides a secure, private tunnel, preventing hackers from preying on users of public WiFi connections.

Hotspot Shield has been downloaded by more than 100 million people from 190 countries worldwide, and is available on Apple iOS, and Android devices, in addition to desktop PCs and Macs.

An added Hotspot Shield bonus for UAE shoppers is the fact they can access any US website to take advantage of cheaper prices and a wider array of product choices.

Anglophiles and the UAE's large British expat community can also enjoy similar perks from UK websites using Expat Shield, the UK version of Hotspot Shield.

Hotspot Shield is also winning plaudits for its ability to compress data during mobile phone use to speed up the browsing experience and more than double the amount of Web content users can access under their mobile data plans. In just over a year, Hotspot Shield products have saved mobile users more than 21 million megabytes of data.