All told, about 58 million bargain hunters rose before dawn to check out Black Friday. Welcome to Cyber Monday, another effort to get the moola out of your pocket and into online retailers when shoppers go back to work. Researches say that 61 million will shop online from their cubicles, which is 18 percent higher than last year, to avoid holiday rage. 

To guard against online identity theft, watch for mass e-mails complaining there are problems with your order, use a credit rather than debit card, and check for site security (the site should read “https,” with that extra “s” for security.) Finally, if you use sites like Amazon, Shopzilla, BizRate, and NexTag, don’t automatically assume you will obtain a secure and safe purchase.