Top 7 Worst Mistakes You Can Make Online
Yes, the economy is in the can, but that won’t stop millions of people from going online to do their holiday shopping. It’s fast. It’s easy. And, even better, there are no crowds!
Since I will be one of those millions of people, I thought I’d investigate some ways to safeguard my online activity. After all, a lot of my money will be flowing through the virtual world and I want it protected.
Thankfully, Martin Greif of the Internet Privacy and Safety Blog has already thought ahead. He has posted the 7 worst mistakes that people make online. They are invaluable - especially when you’re conducting online business. Martin also says these mistakes can easily be avoided.
So now, I’m passing Martin’s Top 7 list on to you. Knowing this information could make your holiday shopping season a whole lot merrier.
- Entering personal information on social networking sites for the entire world to see - This is a very common mistake made by many people, especially the unsuspecting youth. If you enter your personal information like your home address or your telephone number on a public site, and you aren’t careful about whom you accept as friends, then it can potentially be misused or you could become a victim of harassment.
- Using unsecured, internet protocols for financial transactions- This puts your financial information, in particular, your credit card numbers and bank account numbers at serious risk when you purchase products online. Be sure to use a notable processor like PayPal or make purchases at the big-name, trusted sites.
- Using similar usernames and passwords for different accounts - It’s simply risky, because if one of your accounts is somehow hacked, then the security of the rest of your accounts is also at risk.
- Accepting cookies on the internet from unfamiliar sites- This may make your online experience a little easier, but it can also be a great threat to your privacy. That innocent cookie could actually be a piece of spyware that records your keystrokes. Your account ids and passwords could be at risk of being exposed.
- Ignoring the importance of anti-virus and anti-spyware programs– As previously mentioned, spyware and related malware programs can send sensitive information about you to a third party. These can automatically install themselves without your knowledge while you are browsing the net. Therefore, make sure that you have an anti-spyware program installed and also, be sure to have the latest updates for your chosen program.
- Storing account ids and passwords, passport ids, bank account and credit card numbers, or other ID numbers and passwords on your hard drive – This type of information should be stored on a USB memory stick or copied to a CD. Although archaic, even just writing that information on a notepad and keeping it in a safe place in your home is safer than having it on your computer. I don’t think that the hackers have written a program yet that can grab your sensitive information off our desk!
- Not monitoring the online activities of your kids – Everything that your children do online should be monitored. If it turns out that a family member is engaging in unsafe behavior that threatens your privacy and online security, take immediate action to inform them of the recklessness of their actions before it’s too late. Put boundaries in place to minimize the risk.
