Tis the season for online bargain hunting.  Here are a few tips to keep your personal information safe while shopping online any time of year:

• Shop only at trusted sites with good customer reviews.
• You should always read recent customer reviews when considering purchasing from a site you haven’t shopped before.  Or if they don’t have many online reviews call their customer service department.  Either of these should tell you if you’re dealing with a reputable company.
• When preparing to make a purchase online make sure the site has an up to date security certificate. (see below for examples)
• Never use the in-browser option to save a password, it’s not encrypted.
• Never use the save my password function on your smartphone.  Just don’t make it that easy for thieves.  You’re phone is a convenient way to access many things and sure it can be a pain to type in that password, but save yourself the heartache.  If your phone is ever lost you won’t be worried that a thief will have instant access into things like your bank account.
• Use a passcode or other lock on your smartphone.
• Use 2-factor authentication.
• Consider adding one of the apps to your smartphone that will allow you to do a Remote Wipe if it’s ever lost or stolen.  Click here for more info on Remote Wipes.

Main shopping site with no security certificate information.  This is not unusual or anything to be concerned about.  It’s once you reach the point of putting in your information that you want to be sure the proper security is in place.

After clicking on the account section security is now noted, with both the lock symbol and the https, instead of http.  In this case there is a yellow triangle over the lock indicating it’s secure, but…  Click on the triangle for more details on the “but”.

Security here is noted with the lock symbol, the full green bar and the https.  No exception to security is indicated.

Happy Shopping!

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