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Chinenye Anuforo [email protected]
Safety of online transaction is of utmost importance because of activities of hackers who are always on the prowl searching for any loopholes to strike.
To ensure safe online transaction, the government of major developing and developed countries has passed many cyber laws but they are only protective measures.
In April this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a fraud alert to the Nigerian public about the alarming rate of cybercrime activities in the country. According to the apex bank, cybercriminals resorted to taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud citizens, steal sensitive information, or gain unauthorized access into computers or mobile devices using different techniques.
Looking at the increasing rate of such cyber hacking crimes, it becomes crucial for us to adopt online payment security methods and adopt online transaction safety tips as preventive and precautionary measures.
Password
The most important factor that contributes to the safety of online transaction is how well you manage your passwords. Passwords are just like the key to a lock, so it is essential to have robust passwords. As suggested by cyber experts, your password should be a mixture of uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
Phishing traps
You must have received a number of emails daily stating that your bank account details need to be updated or winning lottery schemes or asking for credit card details. Don’t let yourself be fooled by such phishing and spam emails and messages. Phishing traps are emails, where spammers send fake emails dressing them up in an authenticated way. Avoid replying and proceeding with such emails and if possible, cross-check and confirm with the actual authorities in case of banking issues.
Turn on privacy mode
Popular and trusted web browsers like internet explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox etc, has privacy mode setting for its users to open the way for the safe online transaction. Turning on privacy mode directs you in a separate window that keeps your data only as long as the window is on.
Use anti-virus and security software
It is always suggested the use of anti-virus and security software for the safe online transaction. Investing in buying antivirus tools is far profitable than losing your confidential data through the entry of malware and Trojans on your device. There are many free apps are also available for windows and android devices.
Avoid using public computers
It is highly recommended to never use public computers and Wi-Fi networks or VPN while transacting online or accessing your personal and confidential banking information. Public Wi-Fi is at risk and it is more likely to compromise your information in wrong hands.
Always log out
Make it a habit to log out of your account whenever you are not using it. Banks now have their own mobile banking apps to facilitate mobile banking. We usually exit out of the app without logging out thinking that we are the sole owner of our device, but that’ll is not the real case. We often lend our phone to family, friends and also sometimes to strangers so in order to be on a safer side, it is always wise to adopt the practice of logging out of your banking apps, credit card details, merchant sites, email accounts, shopping apps and like.
