In this article for Privacy Watch, we are going to cover what to look for when you are shopping online, to help protect your identity as much as possible. There are a few basics to look for that will almost always keep you safe when shopping online.

One thing you must always look for when you go through the check out process is that the web address starts off with https://. If the website does not start with that prefix, then do not buy from that website. When the data transfers from your computer, through the Internet, to their server, it is not secured. Another thing you want to look for is what type of encryption it is. The higher the number the better, but the industry standard is 128-bit encryption. 128-bit encryption is enough to make your information almost impossible to retrieve.

Something that also happens, although not as often, is a phishing website. Occasionally you may see an e-mail stating something along the lines of “There has been an issue with your bank account recently. Please CLICK HERE to login to your account.” Of course, when you click on the link and the website opens, if you do not have anti-phishing software on your computer you could get caught in a scam. Now, this does not happen often- normally only with banking websites, but they will occasionally try to get your passwords and information from other popular sites such as eBay and PayPal.

These types of sites can be set up to look and act almost exactly like the shopping sites, also. I have seen eBay phishing sites that when comparing them side by side, you wouldn’t see a difference. There is one thing they cannot spoof, however- the web address. For example, a few weeks back I received an email supposedly from Chase bank saying that I had issues with my account and I needed to login. Now, first off, I don’t even have a bank account with Chase bank. Secondly, the safest way to check out if the e-mail was valid- I would call the bank rather than following the link, or actually open a new Web Browser and type in the bank’s website.

Here is where you can tell the real from the fake when looking at a website:

Up at the top of your web browser, there is a link. If you are reading this online you should see https://www.privacycom.org in there somewhere. Now, when we were first setting up the layout for this site, we were using http://beta.privacycom.org. If you look at the front page, there shouldn’t really be any difference between the two sites. A phishing website will get you every time if you do not read what web address you are really at. I’ve seen stuff like this created to get PayPal accounts, eBay accounts, Amazon accounts, bank account information, social security numbers, names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, everything that a person would need to steal your identity.

So, in closing, here are a few simple steps to remember when doing online shopping:

1. Always look for the https:// in a website URL. Without this, you are not secure.
2. Always read the website URL you are going to. If something doesn’t seem right, then erase it and type the address you are familiar with (ex: http://beta.privacycom.org to https://www.privacycom.org).
3. Always make sure you have some kind of anti-phishing software on the computer. Even though the newer versions of Internet Explorer are coming with anti-phishing software built into them, it is always better to have a backup plan also.
4. If you can’t determine if the site is legit or just trying to steal your information, visit http://www.phishtank.com/ and put the site into their little submit box. If it has already been submitted, then you will know right away.

Thank you for reading Privacy Watch Releases. Please enjoy the rest of the articles in this month’s issue.