Online shopping tips & tricks: How to shop securely online

Online shopping can be risky and make you prey to online scams. Check tips here to be cyber smart.

Buyers need to ensure that their password is strong while shopping online. (Pixabay)

Christmas is around the corner, while waiting to step into a new year. Several e-commerce websites as well as brands are offering huge discounts on a wide range of products. How will someone not be tempted with the deals during the mood!? And in the view of the pandemic, online shopping remains the comfortable and first choice of buyers to shop. When online shopping is at its peak, how can online fraudsters take a rest! Buyers are still falling prey to online scams like buying fake digital gift cards or making purchases from what might turn out to be a fake company.

Online scams can kill the vibe of the festive shopping season. To avoid that, you will need to keep certain things in mind before starting with the purchases. It is important to look at the things you can do to keep yourself more secure especially during the sale season, as the cyber crime and frauds remain at peak in sync with the number of deals. Here are a few tips to make us walk on the safer paths of online shopping.

Tips to shop online safely

- Make sure to delete your passwords

The majority of cyberattacks start with weak passwords, and 579 password attacks occur per second! It's simple to delete your password from your Microsoft account—not only is it safer, but you'll never have to worry about forgetting or changing a password again. Remove your password entirely if feasible and replace it with a more secure method of authentication.

- Turn on multi factor authentication

Turn on multi factor authentication, if an account or service provides it. If someone else tries to log into your account, you'll be warned through text, email, or some other means, and you'll be able to prevent them. Password attacks are prevented by multi factor authentication in over 99 percent of cases.

- Use trusted tools

There are several free features that can keep your online shopping safer. Such as Microsoft's Password Monitor will notify you whenever you passwords will be compromised and allow you to quickly change your password with the one-click update feature in Edge. Also, Even when you create accounts to get all those wonderful shopping offers, Password Generator automatically provides a secure, unique password recommendation each time you need one.

- Deal looks extremely awesome? Beware!

In the wave of sales, fake deals take flow with it. Beware of too-good-to-be-true offers. Check links wisely, observe spelling mistakes, extra offers which don't look realistic.

Enjoy online shopping while being Cyber Smart!