Online shopping is something that many people either do, or have contemplated doing. It’s an area which also has a few demons: everyone has read a scary fraud story, so it is absolutely important that you know what to do to stay safe when you decide to shop online.

Tips:

When it comes to passwords, choose wisely – These days, many people have accounts on multiple sites. With so many passwords to remember, it can be tempting to re-use the same password across all your accounts. However, this can be dangerous because if someone figures out your password for one service, that person could potentially gain access to your private email, address information, and even your money.

Instead, use unique passwords for your accounts, especially important accounts like email and online banking. Additionally, selecting a password with a mix of numbers and letters will make it harder for someone to guess or crack. For more tips on choosing smart passwords, check out this blog post.

Be mindful of phishing attempts, and avoid getting hooked – “Phishing” occurs when someone masquerades as someone else in an effort to fool you into sharing personal or other sensitive information with them. Phishers can masquerade as just about anyone, including banks, email and application providers, online merchants, online payment services, and even governments.

To avoid this attacks, be careful about responding to emails that ask you for sensitive information, like account numbers, user names and passwords, or other personal information such as social security numbers. Most legitimate businesses will never ask for this information via email. Google doesn’t. Here is some more information about common phishing attacks and how to avoid them.

Make sure you’re using a modern browser — Newer browsers have built-in phishing and malware protection. Google Chrome will show you a warning message before you visit a site that is suspected of containing malware or phishing. In addition, Chrome has a feature called sandboxing, which helps prevent malware from installing itself on your computer or using what happens in one browser tab to affect what happens in another.

This adds an additional layer of protection to your browser by protecting against malicious web pages that try to leave programs on your computer, monitor your web activities, or steal private information from your hard drive.

Develop safe Internet browsing habits – Once you’ve chosen a strong password, there are many things you can do to keep your accounts secure. Especially when using a public computer, such as those at libraries or Internet cafes, be careful to sign-out of your account when you’re finished.

Also, Gmail automatically scans every attachment when it’s delivered to you, and again each time you open a message. Attachments you send are also scanned. That said, no system is foolproof, so if you happen to get an email from a friend with an attachment you didn’t expect, don’t be afraid to ask the sender what it is before you decide whether to open it.

Turn on extra security features in services like Gmail — Any time you visit a webpage, your computer needs to send and receive information across the Internet. HTTPS is used to encrypt data as it is transmitted between computers on the Internet, so look for the “https” in the URL bar of your browser to indicate that the connection between your computer and Gmail’s servers is encrypted.

We use HTTPS on the Gmail login page, and you can choose to protect your entire Gmail session with HTTPS as well. HTTPS can make your mail slower, so we let you make the choice for yourself. Open Settings and choose “Always use HTTPS” on the General tab if you want to turn it on.

Written by Juliet Ehimuan