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Cybersecurity and More: Tips for Shopping Safely in Stores and Online


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 Whether you’re shopping in-store or online, it’s more important than ever to do it safely because of the increasing number of frauds happening each day. You might stumble upon an unreliable provider, or you might purchase goods for your company and end up losing money because of it. 

Simple, affordable, & powerful cybersecurity for your growing business

Both regular consumers and business owners need to know how their shopping spree should go. Since thousands of people work remotely now, it is understandable that most of our activities have gone digital. Instead of finding vendors at the mall, we find appropriate stores online. 

Moreover, somewhere it’s our carelessness, which is making the number of fraud cases grow dramatically. Most of us don’t pay much attention to security and stay busy with whatever we do. This attitude of ours is making us vulnerable to these types of attacks more.

Therefore, the internet safety tips highlighted below can help you change your attitude towards your digital security while shopping online or in-store.

Tips for shopping securely In-Store

Here are five tips you can apply to ensure that your holiday season isn’t marred by credit card fraud or identity theft when shopping in stores.

Protect your Belongings

It is essential in all cases because if you carry your wallet or purse to the shopping, there are high chances that it may get stolen. Additionally, criminals are getting crafty when it comes to stealing your credit card information. Consider getting RFID blocking wallets available in the market, which you can buy to avoid the chances of skimming.

Protect your Card

Make sure to keep your card secure when in public places because the risk here is greater than anywhere else. For instance, data-stealing malware increases daily and can steal card details immediately when swiped in the POS machines. To avoid this, you can use contactless payments.

Protect your PIN

This recommendation may sound foolish. But most of us keep our PIN written somewhere on our credit cards or some other document that can be easily accessible to anyone. If that happens, no matter how safe you were with the rest of the stuff, that one act will make you fall into the frauds’ trap.

Ultrasonic Trackers

Ultrasonic tracking uses soundwaves picked up by device microphones to collect data, identify a user’s location, and more. The technique employs sounds that humans can’t hear but may be detected by various devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

The stolen data can be used for different purposes, including monitoring individual users across devices and determining the precise location to deliver tailored advertising. Therefore, you should be careful while granting permission to the apps which request microphone permissions.

Bluetooth Beacon

Bluetooth Beacons (also known as iBeacons) are deceptive and dangerous for electronic payments. These beacons, which send out low-power signals advertising their presence or availability, can track where you are in a store.

It allows the retailers to deliver targeted advertisements directly to your smartphone based on what aisle of the store you’re shopping in, thus creating a truly personalized shopping experience. But it also allows cybercriminals to get even more information about you based on how long you dwell on that ad and whether you buy something. You can avoid this by keeping your Bluetooth off whenever you are not using it.

Tips for safe online Shopping

Recently, the percentage of eCommerce fraud was recorded at 54 percent for online shopping and 5 percent for in-store shopping. The risk of fraud at a store may seem less to you, but that’s not it; the risks are increasing every day. Therefore, learning some ways to avoid it is going to benefit you only.

Here are some useful shopping tips that will keep your sensitive information safe.

Avoid using public Wi-Fi

You should avoid using public Wi-Fi and start using private networks instead to protect your financial information. Hackers can easily target public Wi-Fi to steal sensitive data like credit card details, social security numbers, etc. 

Cybercriminals might even install malicious software on your device for hacking it in the future. Moreover, if you can’t avoid using public Wi-Fi, download VPN apps and enable them before connecting. Virtual Private Networks encrypt your internet traffic and prevent nosy network managers or criminals from overseeing your activities on public Wi-Fi. 

Shop from trusted websites Only

It’s always better to shop from well-known and trusted websites. They generally follow all the rules and regulations of doing business as well as use trusted payment gateways. You can visit Google Trusted Stores to find out the reputed online stores where you’ll get maximum security during payments.

Avoid using public Computers

Most public computers are easily hacked. The cybercriminals may install keyloggers on them, which will not only enable them to see whatever you type into your computer but even capture images of your screen as you type. It means that whatever data is being entered into the computer, be it passwords or credit card details; hackers will have access to all of them without any hassle. Therefore, avoid using these computers for carrying out transactions like shopping online.

Use strong Passwords

You should always ensure that every password you create for an online account is unique and complex enough to make it difficult for hackers to crack it quickly. This will ensure maximum security of your data stored at a particular site. Also, if a vendor offers two-factor authentication, always enable it. It will mean that hackers won’t be able to log into your account without the secret code that only you can obtain. 

Conclusion

Carrying out online transactions has become a part of our daily lives. However, proceed carefully to ensure that you are always safe from online criminals and other dangers related to the internet. The tips mentioned above can help you have a more secure experience while shopping online or in-store. And, who knows? They might even save your precious money!

Written by

Ryan Robinson

Ryan Robinson is a web content specialist who loves to write on new Technology, Digital Marketing & Internet. Ryan work has appeared in a wide range of publications in Online Media Coverage for Digital Companies Like: Wondershare, NordVPN.

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