Top tips is a weekly column where we highlight what’s trending in the tech world today and list ways to explore these trends. This week, we’ll discuss quick and easy steps to keep your digital payments secure.
Honestly, we think the world’s transition to digital payments was unsettlingly quick. Consumers were thrust into the world of digital payments without sufficient awareness of best practices or knowledge of what is trustworthy when it comes to online transactions. This has led to many people following insecure practices when making digital payments.
But it’s time to change that.
Juniper Research predicts that by 2024, there will be 1 billion unique contactless mobile payment users globally. Additionally, digital wallet spending is expected to exceed $10 trillion by 2025, marking a $4.5 trillion increase over five years.
As the usage of digital payments grows exponentially, users need to be aware of where the threats lie and how to keep their money safe. Here are some useful tips to keep in mind while making online payments.
1. Use a private browsing window
An obvious but often overlooked first step when making online payments is to use a private browsing window. It’s always good practice to log out of your payment session after making online payments, but we’re all forgetful, and there’s a high chance you might leave the browser without logging out. Using a private browsing window will ensure you’re automatically logged out of the session when you close the window.
Moreover, using a private browsing window ensures that your cookies and credentials won’t be saved. Cookies track your online activity and store personal data and credentials, which could later be misused by cybercriminals. Saved credentials could also be used by cybercriminals to log in to your net banking sites or initiate payment processes in e-commerce sites. Instead of having to remember to delete cookies and credentials while making payments, simply use the safer option—a private window.
2. Use a secondary bank account for online transactions
Don’t connect digital wallets and payment apps, including Apple Wallet, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and others, to your main bank account. Although this step might seem excessive, with the recent increase in financial data leaks, it’s one of the best ways to limit the damage in the event of a breach.
So, if you do fall victim to a data breach or scam, you’ll be relieved that you didn’t connect your payment app to your main bank account, which likely holds a significant amount of your money. Don’t take chances—use a secondary account for online transactions.
3. Avoid saving card details for future use
As painful as it is to acknowledge this, data breaches are on the rise. Hackers are doing everything in their power to break into secure systems. So, it’s only wise to keep your financial information secure from prying eyes.
While saving your payment info for future transactions is a convenient feature of websites and web browsers, it can leave your payment data vulnerable to data breaches. It’s okay if you have to enter your credit card number every time you make a transaction, because saving your payment information online is a risk not worth taking.
4. Make financial transactions during off-peak hours
You read that right—make financial transactions during off-peak hours to reduce your exposure to cyberattacks. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are known to happen during peak internet traffic hours, which are typically on weekday mornings between 8am and 2pm, and again in the late afternoon from 4pm to 6pm. Pay day, which falls around the first few days of the month, also sees high financial traffic as businesses pay their employees.
If the transaction is not urgent and can wait, try to make your online payment during off-peak hours.
5. Make transactions in secure apps and websites
This can be tricky because it’s not always clear which websites are secure and trustworthy.
One way to ensure security is to use HTTPS websites. These sites are encrypted and allow for safe information transfer between your browser and the website. Additionally, HTTPS means the website is verified by a Certificate Authority (CA), meaning that it is legitimate. When you make transactions through merchant websites and online banking, HTTPS websites encrypt personal data and card information to prevent hackers from intercepting this sensitive information during payment processing.
When it comes to making payments on apps, check the number of downloads and app reviews, which will give you an idea of whether the app is trustworthy.
6. Avoid making transactions over public Wi-Fi networks
You might often hear that using public Wi-Fi is not secure, but why? Public Wi-Fi is frequently unencrypted, meaning the information you transmit while browsing the internet is not safe—whether it’s financial information or personal data.
There is also a high risk of hackers breaking into public Wi-Fi networks and intercepting the data being transferred. So, avoid using public Wi-Fi or a stranger’s hotspot, especially when making financial transactions.
A final word
Gone are the days when the world relied on cash. Now, using it has become a rarity. Even though there’s an increase in online financial transactions, you might be overlooking the small but crucial steps that enhance its security.
While you may not be a victim today, the risk remains. So, where it’s within your control, we encourage you to examine your habits and make the effort to follow these simple steps for securing your online transactions.
