Tips for Securing your Online Transactions

Data breaches have become more and more common. Individuals and businesses should do all they can to protect themselves from cybercriminals. With a healthy dose of caution, you can safely use the Internet as a time-saving, convenient resource. Leading industry experts shared some of the best practices to help you protect your personal and business data from hacks, scams, malware, and theft. Protect Passwords

• Create "c0mplic@T3d" passwords. Use at least eight characters and include a liberal mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols.
• Use multi-factor authentication for your online accounts when available. This requires multiple pieces of information to verify your identity. For example, to log into an account, you may need to enter a code that is sent to your phone, as well as your password and passphrase.

Avoid Public Wi-Fi

• If you occasionally must use a system other than your own password-protected router, then invest in a virtual private network (VPN). This software can be downloaded to create a secure connection over the Internet, wherever you may be.

Protect Mobile Devices

• Use a screen lock or other security feature to access your smartphone.
• Install updated security patches to your smartphone's apps or operating system.
• Only respond to messages from people you know.

Click Carefully

• Online quizzes, free offers, and spam emails are common phishing techniques used by cybercriminals to trick you into sharing personal or sensitive information.

Surf and Shop Safely

• Never access your bank account from a link, instead, go directly to the home page of the financial institution and navigate from there.
• Only shop or bank online when you can ensure that the website's address starts with "https" instead of just "http."
• Check for a padlock icon in the URL to be certain that the site is secure and uses encryption to scramble your data.
• You can sometimes identify copycat sites by their use of incorrect grammar as well as frequent misspellings of commonly used words.

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