The Christmas season is prime time for shopping — and for stealing. Those who would steal identity information or credit card and banking information see a vast opportunity. At IBM’S Internet Security Systems and their research arm, X-Force, they have issued some seasonal warnings.

I spoke with Gary McIntyre of Edmonton. The lead architect for IBM security in Canada, McIntyre said the best we can hope for these days is a saw-off with the bad guys … it’s an arms race that will never end.

Some points to ponder:

SPAM E-MAILS A new generation of spam e-mails loaded with malware are customized with Christmas messages. For example, just making the rounds are e-mails supposedly from Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

Click on the enclosed link and you go an infected site. I’ve received other e-mails where the subject material is about something I’m interested in and the e-mail appears to be from someone I know.

The only tip off — my friend’s e-mail address is wrong.

FAKE PORTALS The Christmas season is prime time for fake shopping portals. They look like a great place to shop online, but it’s fake. In tough economic times the bad guys know that by offering great deals on a product, you may be more inclined to click through.

TECHIE TOYS Watch out for techie toys, especially things that plug into your computer via a USB port.  McIntyre said it’s a new trend where a middleman company buys a product, loads malware and then ships it off to you as the end buyer.

Plug the item into your computer and malware is downloaded. McIntyre added that they’ve even had cases where malware loaded memory sticks are left in company parking lots. Employees pick them up, take them into the office and plug them into the network.

SURFING  Web surfing is getting riskier as the bad guys put their malware on legitimate sites. McIntyre said it’s easier than ever for the host to scan and clean, but companies often hope they’re not attacked and choose to take no action.

In June of this year credit card companies began to demand that online retailers meet certain firewall standards because the credit card firms are tired to paying the costs of online fraud.

Website of the week: avira.com — You can download a free anti-virus program from this German firm.

This Sunday, one of the stories on Tech Now will be a look at new ID cards being used in some U.S. border states.

Be sure to watch Tech Now this Sunday as part of the CTV NEWS at 6 p.m.