How to Keep Yourself and Your Online Information Safe

Physical Wellbeing Is Important – and So Is Keeping Yourself Safe in the Online World. Here Are Seven Top Tips to Avoid Being Taken for a Ride.

1. Bookmark shopping sites. Avoid using search engines to find deals – they can take you to malicious sites. Use trusted shopping sites instead.
2. Think twice. Read emails thoroughly. Be wary if they’re from people you don’t know. When in doubt, delete!
3. Look at the website name. Some attackers modify website names to fool their targets – for example, changing www.example.com to ‘examp1e.com’ or ‘example.co’.
4. Check updates manually. If you order something online, approach delivery status updates with caution. Even if a message looks valid, go to the site directly and enter the tracking number yourself.
5. Make a note of your orders. When you click ‘confirm order’ on a purchase, make a note somewhere so that you know what emails to expect.
6. Beware of unsolicited offers and deals. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Verify that it’s legitimate by going to the retailer’s site and shopping there directly.
7. Someone seeking a donation? People often impersonate charities and send emails asking for donations. Before you enter personal information and make a donation, check that the site is legitimate, you recognise the website name, and the URL shows “https://”, which indicates the transaction is secure.