Is There Any Way To Protect Yourself From Online Fraud and Identity Theft? – Semalt Gives The Answer
The Internet is full of
all kinds of people. There are many people over the web who
are spending sleepless nights trying to perform some particular types of
internet fraud. There are many forms of internet fraud. Most of the
cyber security issues originate from the works of hackers, spammers,
and other cyber criminals. The safety of an e-commerce website lies in
the hands of the site admin.
Below are some tips offered by Alexander Peresunko, the
Semalt
Customer Success Manager, that'll help you keep off internet fraud.
1. Learn to identify phishing and spear phishing attempts.
Spear phishing attacks
are targeted to try and get additional information from a person
because their online account with another organization has been hacked
or
suffer a data breach. These attacks lure an individual into providing
personal information by offering false promises. An individual should
give out the minimum information about themselves to companies or
business unless the company can explain why it needs the information.
Always, a legit company will be able to explain and answer all questions
accurately.
2. Use strong and secure passwords.
Using strong passwords
that combine letters,
special characters, caps, and numbers is one way to defend yourself
from internet fraud. However, as much as a password is strong, using
the same password on multiple websites compromises the security of your
account. LastPass and KeePass are some of the services that help
one to create, keep and manage several strong passwords for all the
sites he/she visits online.
3. Beware of suspicious emails and attachments.
An individual shouldn't
open emails
or attachments from untrusted sources. Attention should be paid even to
emails and file extension of the attachments from trusted sources
before downloading or opening them, especially official looking emails
from your bank or credit union asking you to log in and review
your account details. The majority of the companies never email a person
and ask them to verify their account information. And even when
it's legit, it's safer to visit the company's website or call the
company rather than clicking on the link provided in the email.
4. Be skeptical, informed and careful.
If anyone asks you for
your information and it
doesn't feel right, don't do this until you can understand why the
person needs the information. Trust your inner instinct. Also, learn
to second-guess promotions and offers you see online. Check out their
sources. Often most of these messages will have a word "scam".
Have time to read The Federal Trade Commission's guidelines on
protecting yourself from identity theft and the federal government's
tips
for avoiding internet fraud at USA.gov. If your identity is stolen
already, report identity theft.
5. Use HTTPS everywhere.
By individuals ensuring
that they are connected to the sites,
they are visiting via SSL is the safest way to ensure one is talking to
the legit website and also to make sure communications with the site
are encrypted hence protecting you from internet fraud.
6. Keep your anti-malware software updated.
However, viruses and
Trojans are
not a common problem nowadays; one needs to install an anti-malware
software on his or her machine. Also, ensure that the antivirus is kept
up
to date. An out of date antivirus isn't useful.
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