How to keep your online transactions secure

Is online transaction safe today? It is a big question that has not only vanish the sleep of bankers and e-commerce consumers but has become the challenge for tech masters too. Well, after the massive online blunders, it can be established that we have still a long way to go for secure online transactions. With the growing globalisation, figures of the online economy are multiplying with millions of naira every day but it is not free from perils, according to www.haasfischer.com.

If ease, convenience, affordability and wide choices are the intrinsic benefits and brighter side of online transactions, we can’t deny the existence of threats from cyber hackers and intruders. Safety of online transaction is therefore of utmost importance.

Whether it be about social networking apps like Facebook or Twitter, shopping apps like Amazon or Snapdeal, or be its banking or other financial apps, we are living more in a virtual world where booking movie or railway tickets and ordering pizza is just a matter of sign in and click. Scanning the past statistics, an alarming question buzz in our mind is how to secure online transaction.

To ensure safe online transaction, the government of major developing and developed countries has passed many cyber laws but they are only protective measures. Looking at the increasing rate of such cyber hacking crimes, it becomes crucial for us to adopt online payment security methods and adopt online transaction safety tips as preventive and precautionary measures.

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Information security is everyone’s responsibility

How to secure credit card transactions online or how do you know when an online transaction is secure? To be specific, there is no such threshold to check the safety of your online transaction. Of course, not everyone is a tech expert to notice the unusual online activities. The actual fact is that online threats can’t be eliminated but can be minimised taking help of online transaction safety tips. We have sorted some of them for you.

Password management

The most important factor that contributes to the safety of online transaction is how well you manage your passwords. Passwords are just like the key to a lock, so it is essential to have robust passwords. As suggested by cyber experts, your password should be a mixture of uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.

Generally, we set our spouse name or DOB as passwords, but such codes are easily predictable. Avoid keeping the same passwords for too long, it is good to frequently change your passwords. In addition to this, assign unique passwords for different accounts, this, in turn, reduces vulnerability to threat. It is needless to say that, never share your passwords, credit card details and other such personal and confidential information. Even bank never ask you for such information.

Phishing traps

You must have received a number of emails daily stating that your bank account details need to be updated or winning lottery schemes or asking for credit card details. Don’t let yourself fool by such phishing and spam emails and messages. Phishing traps are emails, where spammers send fake emails dressing up them in an authenticated way. Avoid replying and proceeding with such emails and if possible, cross-check and confirm with the actual authorities in case of banking issues.

Turn on privacy mode

Popular and trusted web browsers like internet explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox etc, has privacy mode setting for its users to open the way for the safe online transaction. Turning on privacy mode directs you in a separate window that keeps your data only as long as the window is on.

When you close the window, all the cache data will be cleared. Though web browser’s privacy mode is not so trustworthy as users have reported issues with them but yet it is a good option to keep the safety of online transaction, particularly when you’re using a public computer.

Use anti-virus and security software

It is always suggested the use of anti-virus and security software for the safe online transaction. Investing in buying antivirus tools is far profitable than losing your confidential data through the entry of malware and Trojans on your device. There are many free apps are also available for windows and android devices.

Avoid using public computers

It is highly recommended to never use public computers and Wi-Fi networks or VPN while transacting online or accessing your personal and confidential banking information. Public Wi-Fi is at risk and it is more likely to compromise your information in wrong hands. Avoid log in into your net banking account and such other accounts which store your crucial financial data, from a cyber cafe or public computers.

Always hit log out

Make it a habit of logging out of your account whenever you are not using it. Banks now have their own mobile banking apps to facilitate mobile banking. We usually exit out of the app without logging out thinking that we are the sole owner of our device, but that is not the real case. We often lend our phone to family, friends and also sometimes to strangers so in order to be on a safer side, it is always wise to adopt the practice of logging out of your banking apps, credit card details, merchant sites, email accounts, shopping apps and like.