3 Simple Steps to Secure Your Online Transaction
2017.01.05
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)No one can dispute that online transactions are extremely convenient. After all, they don’t even require you to leave your chair in order to make a purchase or transfer money. Furthermore, seeing how the transaction stays in the digital format, it’s much easier to follow up on your expenses than when dealing with cash. Unfortunately, it has its drawbacks as well. The greatest of them is a fact that a lot of people tend to be suspicious about how secure their information is in the digital environment, especially since this information controls their monetary assets. So, without further ado, here are three simple steps that can make your online transactions much more secure.
Come Up with a Strong Password
For starters, we have one security tip that is not applicable to just transaction, but all your online behavior in general. Even the most reliable safety measures won’t amount to much if your password is easy to crack. Most people have problem remembering their passwords, which is why they make two vital mistakes when coming up with them. First, they create easy to remember passwords like names of their pets or their children’s birthdays. Second, they use this same password for most websites they frequent, from their mailing service to their social media account. This means that if only one of their accounts gets compromised, you are in for a serious security breach.
Because of this, it is vital that you know few principles of coming up with a strong password. For starters, it shouldn’t be less than 8 characters long (even this is too short if you ask some people). Next, you may want to use many different characters and combine upper and lowercase letters. Sure, this kind of password may seem more difficult to memorize, but it will also be much harder to crack.
Use Reliable Payment Methods
Needless to say, not all payment methods are as reliable and in order to keep your funds safe, you need to know who exactly you’re entrusting with your money. One of the most consistent ways to do so is by opening an escrow account. This way, you allow your gateway to hold and release funds while the exchange of physical assets take place. Seeing how the neutral party holds onto these funds, both sides are protected from fraud. As a payment method, escrow is almost as old as the commerce itself, but what’s new is its integration into the digital environment.
Be Suspicious
One of the best safety advices you could possibly get is to be suspicious of everything. If you find an USB drive in the subway or lying on a park bench, the last thing you want to do is take it back with you home and plug it in. Second, be careful what you click on while browsing the internet. The flashier a button seems, the less safe it is to click it. Finally, make sure to keep your eye out for phishing. Every time you type in your username and password make sure to pay closer attention to a page’s address. You would be surprised how common these scams actually are.
Conclusion
With these precautionary steps, your digital funds are as safe in digital environment as they would be in a real-life safe. Sure, there’s always a risk that someone will break into the vault with a tank, but chances of this are too low to be taken seriously. In other words, while taking these steps is not a 100 percent guarantee that your funds will be safe, it’s as close to this as it gets. To be completely honest, in practice you can barely see the difference.
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and a regular contributor to Technivorz.
.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
