How to protect yourself while shopping online

UC information technology professor offers 5 tips to reduce risks

With holiday shopping underway and people looking to score deals, a University of Cincinnati professor offered five tips for shoppers to protect themselves online.

Zag ElSayed, PhD, assistant professor in UC's School of Information Technology.

Zag ElSayed, PhD, an assistant professor in UC’s School of Information Technology, said the most common risks shoppers encounter online are phishing (an attempt to acquire sensitive data, such as bank account numbers, through a request in an email or on a website), malware (software that is designed to disrupt, damage or gain unauthorized access to a computer system), identity theft and credit card fraud. These can lead to financial loss, compromised personal information and emotional distress.

“As you are aware in the physical world — where to go, what time to visit places, what to avoid — the same thing you should do online,” ElSayed said.

To protect themselves online, ElSayed offered five tips for shoppers:

1. Ensure secure connections

When shopping online, avoid using public Wi-Fi as hackers can exploit vulnerabilities to steal personal information. Also, look for “https” at the beginning of website URLs to ensure secure encrypted communication and make sure they’re legitimate sites by paying close attention to web addresses; a fake website might use a domain that’s just one character off of a reputable site.

“Now you have a big risk with AI that can generate deepfakes [an artificially created image or video] and can look very familiar to real websites,” ElSayed said.

2. Protect your personal information

When shopping online, be careful about sharing personal information. Don’t create an account on a website if it’s not required and don’t fill out optional fields.

“If there are optional fields, you don’t have to fill them out,” ElSayed said. “Keep yourself as less exposed as possible.”

3. Use strong passwords

Use strong passwords with a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Avoid incremental changes to passwords, such as a pet’s name followed by a 1, 2 or 3 as they can be easy to guess.

4. Use secure methods of payment

Use a payment option such as PayPal, which can limit exposure by hiding credit card numbers and personal information. Also, avoid storing credit card information on a website. While it’s more convenient, it increases the risk of information being stolen in a breach.

5. Be aware of phishing

When receiving an email, look for signs of fraud such as incorrect email addresses and spelling and grammar errors. Fraudsters also will use images of celebrities to attempt to create a sense of legitimacy. While people are searching for deals, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Along with these tips, ElSayed also said shoppers can protect themselves by using multifactor authentication, keeping their phones and laptops updated and sharing tips with their friends and family.

Featured image at top: While online shopping can be convenient, there are risks that shoppers need to consider. Photo/Surface via Unsplash

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