5 Tips to Secure Your Online Purchases | Antivirus

For many of us, buying online has become a reflex that simplifies everyday life: travel, clothes, food shopping… Today, almost everything can be bought on the Internet. But when it comes time to pay, how can you guarantee the security of a transaction? Here are 5 tips to follow to protect yourself against the risks of piracy.

1: Check the Website URL

The URL is the address of a website. When you make an online payment, it must begin with "HTTPS". This means that the website is secure. In addition, your browser must indicate to you, by means of a padlock symbol, that security is well established between your computer and the site you are visiting. If you have any doubts about the site asking for your bank details, it is better to turn around.

2: Shop Only on Your Home Computer

This advice is obvious at first glance, but it is important to remember it: you are about to transmit sensitive data, such as your credit card number or your personal address. It is therefore not recommended to use a public computer, or even a friend's computer. Then all it takes is malware installed for your private data to be recovered by cybercriminals.

3: Use a Secure Browser, the Perfect Tool to Protect Your Data

Even if the site you are about to pay on seems reliable and you are using a secure network, hackers may be able to bypass security to steal your credit card number. The ideal is therefore to use a secure browser, such as the one included in the Protegent360 antivirus solution. Thanks to this tool, your data is encrypted directly between the keyboard and the browser, which prevents any possibility of recovering your banking data.

4: Use Private Networks

Public networks must, by their very nature, be easily accessible: this is why they are most often without any protection. It is therefore easy to understand why it is better not to use this type of network to make an online purchase. A hacker could easily gain access to your computer and what you are doing there, and therefore easily steal your credit card number.

5: Avoid Saving Your Data Online, or Protect It Effectively

More and more websites offer you to save your credit card number in your account so that you do not have to enter them again for each purchase. This is a very handy feature - especially on sites where you buy often but beware: access to your account must absolutely be protected with a strong password to prevent too much data from being easily retrieved by cybercriminals. Here are some tips for creating a strong password:

• Use a long password (minimum 8 characters), or even a "passphrase", to increase the number of characters without complicating memorization.
• Add special characters, but avoid overly obvious substitutions, such as @ to replace an A
• Avoid using dictionary words or obvious passwords such as 123456, password, etc.
• Change your passwords regularly, and feel free to use a different one for each account.