Do you shop online? Do you operate with your accounts online? Here are 7 keys to operating safely online and not putting your money at risk
7 keys to operate safely online and not put your money at risk
Virtual transactions have become the daily bread for many families. But the convenience of the Internet can work against us if we don’t follow some basic security guidelines. Here are seven tips to combat cybercrime.
1. Use a secure connection
Public Wi-Fi networks have increased in recent years. But what appears to progress can compromise the security of our transactions. When operating with our money, we should use a secure connection such as our home ADSL or fiber-optic network and avoid public networks, as they are usually more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Unlike a private network, anyone can connect to a public network and, if they so choose, intercept information moving through it.
In any case, if we finally depend on such a system, we can take additional measures such as accessing only secure web pages that encrypt information.
2. Verify the URL address of the web page
Suppose we are going to carry out a virtual transaction or enter data that may compromise our money, such as the access code to virtual banking or our card data. In that case, it is important that we first check that we are on the correct web page and not on a copy created with bad intentions. To do this, we can review the URL of the web.
There are many pages that copy the style of another, but are actually designed to steal data; They can be identified because the URL address is not correct or because, although their design is aesthetically a copy, they often have very limited functions.
3. Check that the page starts with https
If the web page’s address begins with https and is accompanied by a green padlock, we can breathe easily. The information we send through this website will be encrypted, so it will be very difficult for a third party to interpret the data sent from our computer.
4. Be careful with the data entered
We must be careful when revealing our personal data over the network, especially to avoid cases of phishing (a technique designed to steal personal information, such as passwords or account numbers, which uses malicious emails and web pages).
Common sense will be our best ally and remember some rules such as, for example, that our bank will never ask us to enter all the data on our coordinate card at once.
5. Activate an antivirus
Operating safely online also depends on the state of our device. It is advisable to keep your computer updated and use an antivirus to combat possible threats that may attack your computer.
6. Use a trusted website
When making online purchases requiring entering card details, it is important to check that the website is reliable. One trick is to review the opinions that other users have left about it, so we can easily detect possible scams and prevent a third party from using our card details fraudulently.
7. Use a prepaid card
Another tip, in this case, to make purchases online and prevent our account from being depleted by the theft of our card data, is to use a prepaid card. This type of plastic, which often does not even have physical support, is not linked to any current account and only has the balance that its owner has previously decided to charge so that in the event of cloning, the loss will be limited to what the holder has deposited on the card.