How to Shop Online Safely

Hello World! today I will be showing you how to shop online without worrying about anyone stealing your Identity. Shopping is one of most dangerous thing that you can do online. This will open you up to all kinds of nasty attacks by Hackers/Identity Thieves, but your not helpless. There are a few steps you can take to keep yourself protected. As I have mentioned in my previous post Hackers can steal your Identity using MITM Attacks, DNS Spoofing, Phishing Scams and many more. Most of these attacks can be done remotely wit easy and the Hacker might never be caught. However if you follow these steps you will never have to worry about becoming a victim od Identity Thieves.

Step 1-Visit the Real Website

This might seem like a well duh of course I’m going to visit the real website, but Hackers can send you to fake website very easily using DNS Spoffing, Google Ad’s, fake links and many other vicious attacks. If you do accidentally visit the wrong website you will probably never know until it’s to late. One of the best measures to take against this is to bookmark the websites you visit the most. This will allow you to go to the bookmarked address and bypass the Hackers trap. This won’t prevent a DNS Spoofing attack, but you wont click on a malicious ad on Google.

Step 2-Secure Your Data with a VPN

The first step is more of a precautionary measure and doesn't do much in the way of protecting you. However if you encrypt your Internet Traffic then Hackers can steal it all they want and you will remain protected. This is because once your Web Traffic is encrypted it can’t be read by anyone except for the Intended person or in this case website. Many Websites now use HTTPS to encrypt your Internet Traffic. This is done by sending an SSL Certificate to your Computer saying that your are visiting a trusted website and allowing your computer to make an encrypted connection. However Hackers don’t let that stop them and they have found a great many ways around this. Most bloggers will tell you that as long as you see that lock symbol in your address bar you are protected. Well I’m here to tell you that couldn't be further from the truth. Hackers can send you fake SSL Certificates tricking you into connecting to their malicious website. To date the only way to make sure your connection is secure is by using a VPN to connect to the Internet. This won’t just encrypt your Internet Traffic, but it will also prevent DNS Spoofing and Hackers can’t fake a connection to your VPN’s Servers.

Step 3-Secure your Credit Card Information

Paypal is an amazing service not only for easily shopping online, but for securing your credit card as well. When you enter your Credit Card information into a website that information is sent across the open web. meaning anyone can easily see it. While encrypting your connection will protect you from this it’s also a good idea to not send that information as well and will cost you nothing to do. When you use Paypal, Paypal will securely store your Credit Card info. This will allow you to connect your Paypal Account to all of your Shopping websites, so all transaction are handled safely out of the Hackers reach.

Step 4-Don’t use your Credit Card

Now you might be saying well how am I supposed to make purchases then. Well, by using a Gift Card or even better a Reloadable Card you can put the money you want to use for online shopping on that card and use it instead of your Credit Card. Even if you use Paypal they might get your Paypal Account information allowing them to use your account to by stuff online. This will act as a buffer between your bank account and the card your using to buy stuff on the Internet. Now if any little Hacker does somehow get your Cards information it’ll be the Gift Card or reloadable card not you Bank card. While they might get some of your money they won’t get all of it.

It is highly unlikely that a Hacker will be able to get your information if you follow steps 1–3, but the possibility is always there. The best way to protect your Credit Card is not to use it at all. Identity Theft happens on a regular basis. While I personally don’t like to use the term Hacker for these people they make up that vast majority of Hackers on the Internet today. Keep yourself protected while your using the Internet. In an age where everything is done on the Internet the only person that can properly protect you is you stay informed.

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