Christmas, the time when everyone is scrambling to buy gifts and food for Christmas get-togethers, outfits for family do’s, gear for their fishing or camping trip up the west coast, and the time when online shopping is at an all-time high. With increased online shopping, comes increased risk of threat to your confidential information such as your credit information which is required by every online platform that you may be purchasing from.
Here’s how you can stay safe when purchasing online
1. Use known and trusted sites
Rather than purchasing off of unfamiliar sites, go to sites that are trusted and well-known. Many of the larger retailers have an online presence, allowing you to order your goods for delivery. If you want to support smaller retailers, do some research and make sure they are reputable before providing them with your credit card or personal information.
2. Only provide credit card or other personal information on sites that carry the https:// prefix
If you want to be safe, ensuring that the sites you provide information too are secure is highly important. When a site’s domain carries the https:// prefix, this means that it is encrypting the traffic between the user and the site, providing more security for when you interact with the site by providing specific information such as personal details, passwords and credit cards.
3. Use one account for all your online purchases
If you have multiple cards, limit the use of your cards to only one online. This allows you to better manage purchases and ensure that all transactions taking place are legitimate. Ensure that with this card, you have set up message notifications to be notified when purchases are being done on your card.
4. Don’t store your credit card information on retail sites
Many retailers provide shoppers with the option to store their credit card details for ease of use in future purchases however, stats show that this is not safe for shoppers to do. In the first half of 2019 alone, more than 23 million credit card details were stolen. In 2020, with the increase in phishing and other online criminal activities, it can only be presumed this number has seen a significant increase, with overall cybercrime increasing by more than 300% just since March 2020.
5. Don’t make purchases from public internet access
When making purchases online, doing so on a public or open network such as in a mall, a public library or restaurant. Because these networks are publicly open, they are more likely to be targeted by hackers who will intercept your information while it is being transmitted over these networks and thus enabling them to steal your personal information.
6. Keep your desktop and mobile operating systems up to date
Hackers can use weaknesses in your operating system to get into your system and steal your information. By staying up to date, you are downloading the system developers latest updates to their software which often includes increased security in areas of the software which may have been discovered as a hole that gives hackers easy access. If you see the notice to update, ensure that you update to stay safe. In addition, having an anti-vires and anti-spyware on your desktop and mobile device will also give you additional security.
