Online Christmas shopping threats Australians should avoid on Black Friday

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - November 7, 2025 - Yubico (NASDAQ STOCKHOLM: YUBICO), the creator of the most secure passkeys and the leading provider of hardware authentication security keys, today shared essential tips to help consumers secure their accounts during some of the year's riskiest months for online shopping. 

To help safeguard Australian shoppers from these online threats, Yubico has announced its biggest sale of the year: 30% off the YubiKey 5 NFC and 5C NFC from November 24 to December 1, available via Yubico's Australian online retail partner, Trust Panda.

A recent survey from Yubico highlights the urgency: most Australians believe online scams and phishing attempts have become more sophisticated (82%) and more successful (73%) due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI). And just in time for the Christmas shopping season, the most common compromised passwords were found to be for online shopping websites and social media apps.

"It's that time of the year when we see an increase in phishing attacks due to the volume of Christmas shopping, and scammers thrive when shoppers are time-poor. With AI accelerating and personalising sophisticated phishing campaigns, relying on passwords as your only defence is a major risk," said Geoff Schomburgk, vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan at Yubico. "This Christmas, all Australians should take steps to proactively protect their accounts with MFA and Yubico is making it easy and affordable to upgrade to the top defence that matters: phishing-resistant YubiKey security keys."

Your Digital Security Survival Kit: Top Tips from Yubico

Before booking that flight or clicking "buy now," Yubico urges consumers to lock in their digital security with these three simple steps:

1. Make MFA a priority: With so much of our lives spent online, it's more important than ever to ensure your digital life is protected. Before you kick off your Christmas shopping this year, take some time to review your most important online accounts. By ensuring you have modern multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled with security keys and passkeys, even if a hacker has your login credentials but does not have access to your security key or passkey, they cannot gain entry to your accounts. Recovering social media, email, financial and other accounts if your account gets hacked is a lot more effort than proactively protecting your accounts with stronger MFA.

2. Think before you click: Don't fall for the fake bank fraud alerts, loan payment alerts, or attempted package delivery texts. If you are concerned about the alert, contact your financial institution or delivery service directly rather than using the link or number provided in a text message. 

3. Use a password manager: Create and use complex, unique passwords for each account. Password managers are highly recommended for secure password storage and password generation. And better yet, always use MFA to secure your password manager.

Just in time for Christmas, Yubico is offering discounts on its most popular phishing-resistant YubiKey security keys, available across its e-commerce store and major retail partners.

Gifting Just Got More Secure: Yubico's Biggest Sale of the Sale

Black Friday / Cyber Monday (November 24 - December 1)

Offer: 30% off the YubiKey 5 NFC and YubiKey 5C NFC.

Available through Trust Panda (Discount applied automatically).

Christmas Shopping (December 15 - December 23)

US$10 off when you spend US$100 or more.

Only available on Yubico.com.

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About Yubico

Yubico (Nasdaq Stockholm: YUBICO) is a modern cybersecurity company on a mission to make the internet safer for everyone. As the inventor of the YubiKey, we set the gold standard for modern phishing-resistant, hardware-backed authentication, stopping account takeovers and making secure login simple.

Since 2007, we've helped shape global authentication standards, co-created FIDO2, WebAuthn, and FIDO U2F, and introduced the original passkey. Today, our passkey technology secures people and organisations in over 160 countries, transforming how digital identity is protected from onboarding to account recovery.

Trusted by the world's most security-conscious brands, governments, and institutions, YubiKeys work out of the box with hundreds of apps and services, delivering fast, passwordless access without friction or compromise. 

We believe strong security should never be out of reach. Through our philanthropic initiative, Secure it Forward, we donate YubiKeys to nonprofits supporting at-risk communities.

Dual-headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and Santa Clara, California, Yubico is proud to be recognised as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies and Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. Learn more at www.yubico.com.