How much do you know about browsing safely? An online quiz.

Being able to browse websites, shop and bank from anywhere in the world on your computer or other device, offers plenty of benefits. However, if you value your privacy and the safety of your personal details, you need to know how to browse safely.

Take our quick online quiz to check your knowledge about online safety, and read on after taking the quiz for easy tips.

What you need to know about browsing safely

Whenever you visit a website, your browsing data, searches and details may be tracked and stored. If a website holding any of your data is hacked, your data may end up in the public domain. As a result, your personal and banking details may fall prey to scammers and hackers.

Knowing how to browse safely can limit the risk of data theft and stops annoying adverts, pop-ups and phishing or scam mails. On our blog, you can find more tips to avoid popular scams.

Why it’s important to browse safely

As you will have gathered from our online quiz, it is important to browse safely on any website where you might need to enter important personal details, your bank account details and contact details. The reason is simple – any details you enter online can be stolen, unless you know how to protect yourself.

Keeping your payment data safe online

Sharing your payment details online can put you at risk of having your account hacked, and (worst case scenario) of your payment and banking details falling into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, you would not be the first person to find out that you have paid for items you never bought, or to find out that someone logged in to your bank account.

In addition to keeping your browser updated and keeping your passwords safe, you can do more. Using a prepaid credit card or shopping voucher enables you to pay online without entering any personal data.

The added bonus of shopping online with a prepaid card? If your prepaid credit card number is obtained by a scammer, they will only be able to use the money that you put on the prepaid card. They can’t access your bank account. Explore the wide range of prepaid credit cards (that you can use within minutes) on Recharge.com.

Prepaid Credit Cards

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Keep a lid on the cookie jar

One of the main things to be aware of when surfing or browsing safely, are cookies. Cookies are small files stored in your browser. Websites use these cookies to identify you and keep track of your data. Cookies are used to gather data such as visitor numbers and browsing behaviour on a website. This also means that the website can “see” and analyse what you are doing, when and how often.

Make sure to Google ‘safe browsing and cookies’, combined with the name of your browser to find specific tips.

Websites in the EU are now obliged to ask whether they are allowed to place cookies. But what if you can’t access a website that you need to visit unless you accept the cookies? Clear your browsers’ cache (your browsing history) and cookies on a regular basis. And look into the security settings or your browser, to block or filter cookies.

Keep your passwords safe and secure

Private browsing, banking and logging in to any online services, depends on keeping your passwords safe at all times. Learn how to create a strong password, and make it a habit to change your important passwords on a very regular basis. Use a (free) random password generator, or a secure password manager.

Making all your passwords unique, makes them much harder to crack. The password manager remembers your passwords for you (if you want), so you are always logged in with one click. You can check if any of your email login details were ever leaked on a website called Have I been P@wned.

Updating your browser software to browse safely

Pay attention to notifications from your browser regarding necessary updates. Double-check to make sure they’re legit, or access your browser settings and allow it to perform updates whenever needed. You won’t be notified about updates with a super urgent email saying you should log in somewhere, you will be notified with a pop-up from your browser most of the time.

Regular updates help to make sure that your browser functions well -and that your browser is better protected against the latest security threats. If you visit a website (this is especially important when it comes to private browsing and entering payment or bank details), always make sure that the website is legit.

Scammers are very adept at creating copies of websites that look real and trustworthy. The measures that you can take to browse safely don’t cost you any money. Here you can read more about keeping your online accounts and personal details safe online.