Keep Online Security for Shopping Safe and Secure
Shopping on line is convenient and easy, so much so, it can be all too easy to slip into, complacency and possibly action careless security errors.
Online criminals and hackers are constantly on the prowl, looking for cracks or flaws in the flow of personal information, particularly in banking details and credit/debit card security.
As easy as online shopping is, it is important to think of security, if you drove to the shops, you wouldn’t leave your front door open!
It is good to bear in mind that a public Wi-Fi network is not the one to be sharing personal information on, which for financial security reasons means shopping too.
You should only use a trusted network such as your home or workplace that needs a password for logging on.
In public places such as restaurants, a password protected network may not be secure as you think.
Generally it is best to take easy steps to protect your online security by being careful about who you are giving your financial details to. If you have any doubt as to whether the outlet you want to use is reliable, do some simple research to ascertain authenticity and reliability, or use a certified payment processor.
This means that instead of giving your payment details straight to the vendor, you par through a trusted third-party processor such as PayPal which minimises the opportunities for the unscrupulous to access any information.
Generally, using a credit card for payment is not intrinsically safer, but if your financial details are scammed online, you will have more recourse than having used a debit card. Money withdrawn on the debit card comes straight out of your bank account, and limited only by the amount of money in it.
Credit cards have spending limits, and transactions can be disputed with the issuer, and more importantly, you still have the money in your bank account.
Make sure you check your credit card statement closely when it is issued every month to ensure there are no unexplained payment/purchases debited to your account. If there is anything out of the ordinary speak to the card provider and discuss it as soon as possible.
One of the best online security criteria you are in control of is your passwords. For any online shopping accounts you establish ensure that you create strong passwords that hackers are not going to guess. It is a seemingly small and sometimes irritating thing, but good passwording is a good strong line in your defences.
Another, perhaps obvious to some, scam is, that if something is offered that seems too good to be true, then it is probably is. Investigate carefully and thoroughly, and if in any doubt, move on and away.
Online security in a massive issue, with new inventive ways to defraud the public being introdured almost daily. Big business faces an ongoing challenge to protect their customers data and money. Banks are facing a specific set of challenges that they occasionally fail to deliver on, leaving thousands of people vulnerable to exploitation. Be cautious is my advice
There needs to be a healthy balance between deliverability and security. Some sites have over exuberant security that makes accessing content and data a ball ache. If your cloud solution is going to work for you then you need a useable system with high availability.
PCI DSS systems have come a long way to address many issues but hackers seems to be a step ahead all the time. Security can be a minefield and any entry point represents a point of weakness in any system.
I made the mistake of clicking on an innocent looking link in a very realistic email and had just over £4000 taken from my bank account. Thankfully Santander were brilliant and refunded it to me which was over and above what they needed to do I think. Many other people aren’t as lucky and lose the lot. The thing I have learnt is to only use bookmarks in my machine that I trust to access critical sites and services.
It’s all to easy to get hacked and not even know it…… but I think an even bigger issue is the scammers who can walk past you and steal £30 a time using a contactless reader to ‘swipe’ your credit cards while they are in your wallet.
Can they really do that?
Anywhere people have access then they will need a password to access and that is the weak link in the process. Stay safe people.
Wise words
Secure hosting is the biggest challenge for business and one that’s not going to reduce any time soon.
With mobile usage going through the roof, vulnerabilities are only going to get bigger, with apps giving easy access to our, money, data and online assets, theft of devices is often all that is required as many people don’t secure their smartphones as well as they could do.
Common sense is all anyone actually needs, and a little luck!
Well said that man (or woman)
Russians not going to go away anytime soon
Scary world we live in
good point, well made
Online security has never been more threatened, take care.