6 Tips for Keeping Your Payment Information Secure When Gaming Online
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Online gaming sites are a huge target for hackers, and, if you’re an avid online gamer, there’s a strong chance that you were either the victim of an attack or the target of an unsuccessful one.
Online gaming platforms are a treasure trove for cybercriminals. These sites require users to hand over very sensitive information like their email address, home address, and phone number, as well as their credit card information, which is extremely valuable to hackers. Players also have to be constantly connected while playing, which comes with its share of risks. Let’s take a look at a few tips you can use to keep your payment information safe when gaming online.
Use a Safe Payment Option
The very first thing you should do is use safe payment options only. If you can find a site that allows you to use PayPal, do it. That’s because it limits the amount of personal information that you have to share. All you need to give is your email address while your credit card and bank account information remain safe.
If you can’t use PayPal, at least find a way to limit how much access hackers would have to your money if you got attacked. If you’re going to use a credit card, see if you can use a prepaid card instead. You can then fill it up with the exact amount of money you need, leaving hackers with nothing to steal.
Be Wary of Suspicious Emails
Phishing is one of the most common tactics hackers use to get your information. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book too, but it still works. Hackers have been refining their techniques over the years and have become better at making phishing emails look authentic.
If you ever get a message stating that your account has been compromised or that you have to take steps to “verify” it, there is a good chance that you’re dealing with a phishing email. The first thing you should do if you receive one of those messages is to log in to your account and see if the information you see there is congruent with the message.
Next, contact the site’s customer service and ask them if there’s something wrong with your account. If they confirm, then this means that the email was legitimate. But, if they don’t, then it’s almost 100% certain that this is an attempt at getting information, so delete the messages immediately. Make sure that you report the email as well as it will help block future attempts.
Choose the Right Site
The site you decide to play on is also very important. If you’re a traditional gamer, then you’ll be generally safe if you stick to the main platforms like Steam or Xbox Live, but things become a bit trickier when we start talking about things like online gambling.
If you’re big into online gambling, then you have to be extra careful with the sites you pick. Online gambling sites are not as tightly regulated as other gaming sites and virtually anyone can set up a very
convincing one pretty fast. So, make sure that you check the reputation of any online casino platforms before you try them.
One of the best things you can do when looking for an online casino is to look for a reputable review site and only stick to casinos in their list. Good review sites take the time to verify that the sites on their list are legit. Having a fraudulent site on their site would hurt their brand, so if a review site has been around for a while, you can mostly trust their picks.
If you’re looking for a review site you can trust, check out Online Casinos. They review all the top online casinos in the industry and look at things such as the quality of the games, security, and customer service, among others. You’ll also learn about things like the gaming software they use, who they were licenced by, and the payment options they allow, which are all important if you want to stay safe.
Use a VPN
Another thing you should do is use a VPN. A VPN will put a barrier between your computer and the website and will prevent people from being able to see your IP address. It will also stop people from directly accessing your computer.
Using a VPN is especially important if you like to play over a public connection. Public Wi-Fi networks are notoriously easy to intercept and you’re likely to find one or a few hackers anywhere large numbers of people are connected to them. Even the network administrator could be a hacker, and some people seek admin positions simply so they can steal information.
We don’t want to scare you there, but these are things that do happen. So never play over an unprotected public connection. Never do things like logging in to your email or online banking portal either.
Set Up the Highest Level of Protection on Your Account
Some gaming platforms will allow you to put additional layers of protection on your account to protect it from infiltrators. If the site(s) you like playing on offers this, you should take advantage of it. Enable two-factor authentication if possible. This is one of the most efficient ways to block people from hacking your account and will allow you to play with more peace of mind.
Don’t Think You’re Safe in Incognito Mode
A lot of people feel a false sense of security when they use incognito mode in their browser. They assume that their information is encrypted when they do this, but that’s not the case. Only a VPN can do that.
All incognito mode does is automatically delete cookies from your computer whenever you close a session. This is why your history won’t show. But that doesn’t affect any information you exchange online. So be careful and get better protection instead.
These are all tips that you can use to safeguard your information whenever you’re gaming online. Stay safe at all times, don’t divulge information easily, and only play on reputable platforms and you’ll reduce the chances of breaches.
This is a submitted article.
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