SAFE ONLINE SHOPPING

The confinement produced months ago by the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the online sales of many products. Those who already had the habit of buying online have increased their purchases, and consumers who had never done it have decided for the first time to do so, and will continue to do it. It is in these moments of boom in transactions when online stores become the target of cybercriminals, in which more and more varied security breaches occur, such as theft of credit card data or fraudulent access to accounts (after the theft of login and password data).

The high number of e-commerce transactions that are recorded leads to an increase in scams through social networks, DDos attacks and ransomware. For this reason, many IT departments of online stores are considering increasing security measures in terms of monitoring and visibility of the network. Threats related to network security breaches are also a matter of concern for professionals, as they can be exploited to cause systems to crash, steal customer data or cause further damage.

Among the circumstances that favor these threats are the vulnerabilities presented by devices that are not properly patched and the errors of the user, who does not take sufficient precautions when connecting to a network or authenticating. Vulnerabilities in the supply chain or unprotected IoT devices are also points that weaken the security position of an organization.

But knowing the vulnerabilities is not enough. They consider actions such as a robust patch management protocol and training employees and customers for the safe use of e-commerce platforms as urgent measures and consumers should be using all the precautions while doing transactions such as using antiviruses that will protect their information and save them from cybercrime.

 

Consumer concerns

 

But the IT department is only part of the equation. The consumer also has a very important role in mitigating cyber threats in the use of e-commerce, since the purchasing patterns that consumers adopt at this time can generate significant security gaps. In these periods of high consumption the consumer often lets his guard down in terms of safety precautions. To this must be added an increase in the classic phishing techniques, in which the consumer is redirected to a fake promotion website.

According to studies, only a small percentage of consumers show any concern about the security of their personal data when making purchases online, although most are aware that the customer's personal data is collected in one way or another in the process. As happens when using loyalty cards. It is still curious that consumers are more concerned about the delivery time of the products they buy than about all safety-related issues.

Luckily, more and more consumers are taking security precautions themselves when making purchases, such as making sure they are using a protected Wi-Fi network before starting the purchase process or taking precautions before entering user names or passwords on a web page.

Consumers should be looking at this points to do safe online shopping:

1. Look for the lock icon at the bottom of your browser window, also that the URL starts with “https”. These signs indicate that the website you are using has additional security measures.

2. Before making a purchase, check the store page, the privacy policies, as well as the delivery and return policies to make sure that the items can be returned if they are not in satisfactory condition or are not delivered.

 

3. Do not make your purchases from an open Wi-Fi connection. Information saved using public Wi-Fi is easily traced by hackers. For this reason, we recommend that you make your purchases in which you must provide personal information from a protected network.

4. If the business you are thinking of buying from virtually has a profile on social networks such as Instagram, it is good that you log in and, in addition to looking at the number of followers the account has, read the comments of other users to make sure that it is a reliable store.

5. Do not get carried away by 'offers' that seem unreal, because they may be. This means that if you intend to buy an item X whose average price in other stores is much higher, the person who is selling it at a surprisingly cheaper price is possibly a scammer. That is why it is important that you first check the market prices.

6. Opt for bank transfers whenever possible. Today there are many shopping places that allow you to make your payments by transfers, which gives you more security, because you do not have to enter your personal information or your card information on any page to make the payment.

7. Keep a record of your transactions and check your account statements from time to time. To receive notifications of each movement made with your card, you can sign up for your bank's alert service. This will help you keep track of your payments and avoid possible fraud.