For many people these days, it can feel like second nature to make online payments. This applies whether the payments are for goods, tickets, vacations or services.
Still, how can you be certain that you are making secure online payments? It’s easy to assume that any security wrinkles relating to online payments must have been ironed out a while ago — but that would be a naïve belief.
One simple reason why is that, on the contrary, cybersecurity is more of a cat-and-mouse game where hackers can establish the upper hand unless customers are diligent in how exactly they secure payments online.
A Roundup of Secure Payment Methods
What do you tend to reach for first when preparing to pay online? Chances are that it’s a physical card of some kind — and, as we will explain, this does not have to prove any barrier to you making secure online payment.
All the same, though, you might want to consider alternative options — as the most obvious way of paying online might not always be the best from a security perspective. Here are just a few methods you could think about…
Credit Card
We might as well start with what many people would personally class as that ‘most obvious’ option. However, there are many genuinely good reasons to consider paying online with a credit card.
One of those reasons is that, when you complete an online transaction with a credit card, the money will not immediately be deducted from the bank account linked to the card.
Instead, it will initially be the card issuer that makes the payment, leaving you to owe them that money later. It also means you get a chance to spot any suspicious spending on the card before your account’s balance goes down.
Debit Card
Using a debit card to make online payments works much like doing so with a credit card — but the main exception is that the funds are taken from your account directly.
When it comes to payment security, a credit card would actually be the better option — as it offers a higher number of legal protections.
For example, you would be entitled to a chargeback — i.e. reversal of the payment — if you do not get what you agreed to pay for.
Prepaid Card
With a prepaid card, you can’t spend any more than the total amount of money already loaded onto it. Yes, unlike a credit or debit card, a prepaid card is not tethered to your bank account.
This all makes for an especially safe payment method, as you would be able to purposefully limit how much money you keep stored on the card. That way, any fraudulent use of the card might not even hit you that hard in the pocket.
Digital Wallet
A digital wallet stores information — such as about your credit or debit card or your bank account — you would typically share with a merchant as part of the online payment process.
However, the digital wallet can conceal much of this data from the merchant while still authorizing them to take the money. Some of the best-known digital wallet services include:
- PayPal
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Skrill
When used on smartphones and tablets equipped with fingerprint readers and face scanners, digital wallets can even enable users to secure payments online by means of biometric authentication.
Tips and Tricks for Secure Online and Mobile Payment
Selecting the right payment procedure is only one of many steps we would advocate you taking to secure online payments to a high standard. Here are some other little things you could do…
Avoid Shopping on Public Wi-Fi
There might now be plentiful spaces — including airports and cafes — offering Wi-Fi hotspots for the public to use, but you ought to draw the line at using them for online shopping if at all possible.
A public Wi-Fi network you connect to could too easily be one where cyber criminals are waiting to pounce.
If you do need to buy anything online while on the go, an appreciably more secure internet connection to utilize would be your smartphone’s cellular one.
Look for the Padlock Symbol
That’s the one featured in the web browser’s URL bar and indicating that the website holds an SSL certificate. Also, check that the ‘http’ part of the address actually reads ‘https’ — another sign of this trusty certificate’s presence.
Though you would certainly be moving in the right direction by turning to an SSL-certified website, its security wouldn’t be guaranteed to be watertight. For this reason, you should also remember to…
Check that Your Device's OS is Up to Date
Indeed, that’s a reference to the device’s operating system — as, when you keep this all nicely patched up, you will leave hackers with fewer security vulnerabilities to potentially exploit.
You might already be accustomed to your computer or mobile device letting you know when a new OS update has recently been released for it.
What if you can’t quite remember when you last updated this OS? In that case, just dive into the device’s settings to check whether an update is waiting. If so, you should install it before buying anything with the hardware.
Save Yourself Having to Type Passwords
Of course, many websites you want to buy from might require you to use a password at some stage. This isn’t always convenient — as if this password were to fall into the hands of a cybercriminal, disaster could strike.
It’s undoubtedly good news, then, that you can bolster your online security through installing iolo ByePass, our password management software solution.
ByePass can automatically generate a unique, hard-to-guess password and enter it into login fields when required. As a result, you can avoid typing that password and consequently increasing the risk of other people seeing it.
Secure Your Credit Card Details with ByePass
You can also use ByePass to enhance your security when paying online. By saving your cards on our password management software, the information is locally encrypted and only populates the payments fields on websites at time of purchase. This means you can avoid saving credit card numbers insecurely in your browser, or manually typing them out, which can leave them vulnerable to keyloggers.
As ByePass can be used on various versions of Windows, iOS and Android, we invite you to install the software and make the most of its functionality.
