Measures to protect your cybersecurity game
According to
eMarketer, worldwide e-commerce sales are predicted to reach $5.5 trillion in
2022, making online purchasing more common than ever.
According to new research from marketing software company Wunderkind, 71% of American customers planned to purchase online this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
It has increased the chances for identity thieves, hackers, and con artists to
obtain customers’ financial information.
A study done
by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants in
In December 2020, roughly one in five participants stated that they had been the
victim of identity theft or had attempted to commit it in the previous year.
Chris Bluvshtein,
a specialist in internet security offered his top ten suggestions for being
secure while shopping online over the holidays at VPNOverview.com.
Be sure to only use the websites you are familiar with
You might be
tempted by a Google link that offers a fantastic price but look at the name
first. Bluvshtein warned against visiting if you were unfamiliar with the area.
“Double
check the site is the one you know,” he advised, adding that hackers can
adopt names that seem similar to High Street firms to trick people into giving
them their personal information. It’s advantageous to take your time and look
for this information because Google also informs you of previous visits to the
site.
According to
Brianne Cap, director of IT Security at DeVry University, there are a lot of
warning signs to look for to decide whether a website is safe or not if you do
wish to shop there:
- The website has a dodgy or unprofessional appearance.
- Links are inoperable or inactive.
- No contact details are provided.
- Policies regarding returns or privacy are ambiguous or absent.
- Prices for goods are absurdly low.
- For other purposes that are unrelated to your purchase, credit card information is required.
- The shipping and additional costs seem strange.
The website either contains an enormous number of unfavorable reviews or none. The website either contains an enormous number of unfavorable reviews or none.
Verify the URL bar.
Cap reported
Devry as saying, “Make sure the website you’re browsing is secure by
looking for the ‘lock’ icon next to the web URL,” in reference to online
shopping.
If a website
doesn’t have one of them, Bluvshtein advised against entering critical
information on it, including bank account information.
Look over your bank records.
You’ll be able
to spot any suspicious activity early on by making it a habit to check your
bank account and statements.
Keep an eye on
your statements since your bank will have information on any deadlines, they
have for reporting fraudulent purchases.
Small
businesses claim that 2022 has already been busier than the previous holiday
season.
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Implement a password manager.
Using a
different, randomized password for each of your accounts is the safest course
of action.
However,
Bluvshtein advised using a password manager to keep them all in one place
rather than writing them down on post-it notes or in notebooks.
In order to
protect you from keylogger attacks, he said, password managers “lock your
information behind a master password, and many of them autofill the website
logins for you.”
This advice was
backed by the National Cybersecurity Alliance, which also suggests turning on
multi-factor authentication whenever practical.
According to
the alliance’s online shopping advice sheet, “(multi-factor
authentication) will fortify your online accounts by enabling the strongest
authentication tools available, such as biometrics or a unique one-time code
sent to your phone or mobile device.”
Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi.
While enjoying
a cup of coffee at your neighborhood café, you might be tempted to get onto
your favorite shopping website, but Bluvshtein warned that doing so on a public
Wi-Fi connection is exceedingly risky.
Public Wi-Fi
rarely has security measures like passwords in place, so hackers can ride along
and steal sensitive information and unsecured banking details without your knowledge.
WHAT TO KNOW: This holiday season, avoid using shop credit cards. Why they could
wind up costing you more is explained here.
Utilize m-payments
It’s advisable
to use an app like Apple Pay or Google Pay instead of your debit card if a
website permits them because they can protect your banking information.
Or use a credit card.
Experts
recommended against using a debit card to pay for anything expensive.
This is so that
credit cards have more robust safeguards against fraud than debit cards do.
Open a temporary checking account
You can manage
the amount of money you can access through transfers from your primary account
by opening an online-only bank account.
In this manner,
Bluvshtein explained, even if your information is stolen, the hacker won’t be
able to access your actual bank account.
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Use a VPN
Your data is
shielded from prying eyes with a VPN. Even if a hacker can see you on a
network, they won’t be able to access your confidential information because
everything you communicate is encrypted.
When used in
conjunction with any of our other security recommendations, a VPN can make your
online shopping extremely secure, according to Bluvshtein.
Courtesy USA TODAY