Almost everything we do today involves some sort of online interaction. Whether it’s a remote connection with your IT support team or a simple transaction with your bank.  You must take precautions to ensure your data is safe online.  Here a three simple tips to help you in your quest to do so.
Encrypt Transactions
Oftentimes, we tend to forget that everything we do on the internet can ben transmitted in clear text. When submitting data via web forms, or ordering products and services online, it’s important that you ensure your data is encrypted. To make sure that this happens, check to see that the website you are submitting your data to offers encryption. Most security minded companies offer web encryption. Simply enter https:// in front of the URL that you are visiting. If it is successful, you will often see a lock icon and the https:// turn green similar to this.
Perform Periodic System Scans
Encrypting your online transactions is great. However, this is useless if your system is infected. A cyber criminal can use the malware installed on your system to simply watch what you are doing and record your key strokes rendering encryption useless. Setting your anti-virus software to scan your system and auto-update every 6 hours should be sufficient. We recommend using other third-party tools in conjunction with your regular anti-virus software as some anti-virus software is weaker in some areas than others.
Research The Company
Encrypting transactions and performing periodic scans are both useless if the company you are submitting your information to happens to be a malicious organization or person. Thoroughly research the company you intend to submit your information to. It’s a good idea to find out if they have a phone number and call them to verify they are who they say they are. Ask questions such as: How long have you been in business? Where are you located? Do you have a physical store? Why do you need ____ information? Can you think of any other good questions to ask? Sometimes doing a search on Google for “(insert business name here) scams” or “(insert business name here) reviews” can turn up some very interesting information.
Keep these three simple tips in mind when your online and make it hard for the cyber criminal to compromise your system.
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