Go digital: How to keep your online transaction safe

Delhi: Online transactions, whether to pay bills, do shopping, book tickets online or avail a service, is increasingly becoming a part of our day to day lives. It has its advantages of saving time and convenience.

However, there is also a fear of user information being stolen and other security risks. But one can lessen the risk and protect one's data by taking some steps.  

Here are a few tips to help you:

- First of all, do not use the same user name and passwords for all accounts. At the same time, it is important to use a strong password which is more secure. For this you can use numbers, symbols and so on in the password.

- It's better if you change your password every 1-3 months or so.

- Before shopping online, paying bills or accessing your bank accounts you must scan your computer to make sure your firewall is turned on.

- Take care not to give out your social security number as some institutions can use this as an easy identifier. In this way, another number can be substituted instead. 

- Use a trusted third-party service to help protect your private information during online transactions. 

- When you do online transactions, make sure it takes place on a website whose address begins with - https://. 'S' means the site is secure. 

- Make sure to log out after accessing your shopping or banking accounts.

- You can use prepaid debit cards for online shopping transactions.

- Try not to use one-click or easy-pay payment options and ensure that every transaction requires your password.

- Do not use public wifi when while doing online transactions.

- Avoid using public computers for sensitive transactions. The security of the computer may have been compromised. 

- A small glitch in any of the software can lead to possible hacking attempt. So try to always have updated to the latest version of your browser and mail clients.

-  Before you enter any confidential or sensitive data on any webpage you must check if the website is using proper encryption.