As internet opens up its doors to an increasing number of people, remember online payments and carrying out financial transactions in the virtual world is becoming more and more popular. With this increasing popularity though the risk of sensitive information being stolen or being misused is also getting common. Hence, at all times, it is essential that the person conducting online work or transactions, for example, Idea recharge of a prepaid mobile connection, needs to doubly make sure of doing so in a secured physical and virtual world.
The most common advice regarding conducting safe online Idea recharge is about passwords. It is cliché but it is in actuality the most important. Industry experts suggest the use of a combination of random alphabets, letters and numerals with special characters and symbols. Making the password strong is the task and responsibility of the end user.
Another very common yet often ignored suggestion regarding online payments and recharge is about typing in the URL address rather than clicking on a link, especially when received via email on your email id. This is more relevant when opening your bank’s official website. Links sent via email is one of the commonest phishing activities online wherein on clicking the link you are redirected to a site which looks similar to your bank site but in fact is far from it. The information provided by the user is then recorded on the fake site and can be conveniently used by frauds to access your bank account online. In order to make doubly sure that you are landing onto your bank website only during paying for Idea recharge online using Netbanking, it is wise to check for the padlock symbol in the browser window just before the site’s address. Also check if the website address is starting with the word ‘http’ or ‘https’. Also one needs to be aware of emails that ask for personal information over emails like bank account numbers, passwords, credit or debit card numbers, PIN numbers etc.
Again a very common tactics that is adopted by people from the IT background is the cleaning of cache, especially after conducting a transaction online wherein you have mentioned your personal details. This is also very relevant when using your bank website. Cleaning the cache means that all chances of your confidential information being viewed by an intruder or a stranger is minimized. Another mistake that people generally make is to save their username and password on browsers, especially on their personal computers or laptops. Now, generally people do it to make things easier for themselves when they need to login the next time but this is also another common source of data being leaked to a malicious software program that can intercept the information from your browser. Also it is certainly not to be done while using computer terminals at public places.
Installing powerful and effective anti-virus software in your personal computer, laptop and even smart phones also helps in keeping online hackers and malevolent criminals at bay.