Hello folks,
A little late for this week’s topic, but better late than never, correct?
Let’s see what we can do about credit cards, debit cards and usage online.
First, we must be aware of the fact that a secure connection is presemt. Since the color of the title bar might not be present, we have to make sure that the URL says “https” as its beginning and not “http” as its beginning.
Remember that the quote marks are in the article, it won’t be in the url itself.
So, let’s give an example. Let’s use this blog’s long form address technology.jaredrimer.net.
If you go to technology.jaredrimer.net, you might see something like this. You might see https://technology.jaredrimer.net as we have turned on secure everywhere on our sub domains.
Some years back, the title bar of firefox had changed to green for secure server connections, but that is not the case any longer. According to Be My AI, which analyzed https://technology.jaredrimer.net on October 16, 2023, there is a lock icon that is green, while the rest of the title bar is the browser’s color. Yours may be gray or white, according to BeMyAI.
With the fact that more sites are using the secure certificates, we need to be more caucious than ever. In one webinar, which I believe is a Phishlabs webinar, the number of actors that have certs are well over half.
We expect most of the sites that are malicious to be fully secure very soon if it isn’t already. This makes this much more difficult to make sure you’re entering your data at the right site. However, there are things we can do.
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- First, make sure you’re on the proper site. For example, if you’re looking for walmart, make sure you’ve got the proper site.
- Make sure that you’re on a secure page, most times you should be. Don’t necessarily worry about what’s after the TLD, each site is programmed differently.
- Most sites do not take any type of crypto currency. Because sites can be compromised, if you see crypto currency options, make sure the site you’re on does in fact take the specific currency.
What else should I do?
I’m glad you asked! Besides making sure you’re on the correct merchant site, using Walmart as an example above, make sure you’re using a digital card and not your physical card. These are better known as a virtual card.
Why should I do that? Good question again! With all of the breaches we’ve been covering between the technology podcast and the security box, we’ve had a huge number of them. Data Breaches, a recent site I’ve been following and recommended by security experts to view, they cover nothing but databreaches and we see posts every single day.
If you’ve got a debit card, you can go to a site like privacy.com which allows you to sign up and use virtual cards that are then charged to your debit card. Also, yyou can check with your bank to determine if they allow you to use virtual cards too.
The thing I like about this service is that each card you set up can be given a spending limit. Have a breach? Cancel that card and give the merchant a new one. No need to give out your regular card. Its protected by the fact that nobody actually has it.
What about Apple Pay? Google Pay?
Another great question. When shopping in stores, according what I heard on a recent Cyber Crime Radio program, it is recommended to use Apple Pay or Google Pay over your credit card. I’ve used my credit and debit card through apple pay, and both cards have different identifiers that are associated with your device. Its also encrypted just like the secure connection that you need to be on when doing these Transactions online.
Anything else?
Maybe I’ll ask you that question. Is there something that I’m missing that you want us to cover on the show? Is there something else you’re doing that we should know about? Sound off in the comments and let us know if we should mention it on air.
Thanks for listening! Thanks for reading! And thanks for making that difference on making sure you’re as secure as possible. Together, we can make that difference.
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With a 4 digit pin as my debit card has, I don’t mind giving the casheer my pin, we have to trust them whether we hand our card to them or use apple/google or other payment processing.
With this said, touch screens are difficult, I had someone X muy name for me when I paid for services I needed. I don’t know what the solution is for this.
Well personally I try paypal before I put in my card for processing.
Sometimes I have to and I hate it because I need someone to help me.
For the local previders like my phone for single topup and a few others there is paypoly which is straight from the banks themselves.
Most sites should be secure but even so.
I am more concerned with the new android touch machines for the blind.
For those with paywave its fine but for the rest I need to give my pin to someone to enter into the system.
Its not just security but independance of the user here.
I don’t know who had it in their head to have touch only and not continue with the older systems which worked or update them to have both, after android should be able to take a glorified numpad which is what this basically is.
For some businesses I do have family and friends I transfer cash to after the fact and for those I frequently use I transfer direct to them later.
The only good thing with the new machines are recipts which seem to be properly headed and labeled pdfs.
I really wish with the new didn’t have to come the extra junk of not just unsafety but really putting down the users of these devices.