3 Ways to Protect Your Financial Information Online

One of the biggest fears when it comes to our precious finances is that they might be taken from us when we least expect it. This fear has rapidly moved from having physical cash stolen to having our entire digital financial footprint snatched from us. But, while this is a very real concern, there are ways to mitigate possible cyber crime to protect our financial information when conducting business online.

VPN

The bottom line is that we can’t fully rely on others to protect our financial information online. Luckily, there are ways we can take matters into our own hands to ensure we have the adequate levels of protection necessary. One way is through a VPN. A VPN (virtual private network) helps you stay safe when transmitting information across public, unsecured or unencrypted networks.

VPNs allow you to share files safely with a group and ensure everyone within is protected. They also allow items to be sent anonymously online. Plus, VPNs can bypass security filters on websites as they have adequate protection themselves. VPNs can also be a cheaper alternative to some costly ways of ensuring your network is more protected and give better peace of mind.

Cryptocurrency Wallets

Many more people have embarked on cryptocurrency journeys and are swapping traditional methods of storing money to digital ones for the level of safety and security that they provide. Indeed, digital wallets that store money in the form of tokens of cryptocurrency are harder to steal from and aim to prevent cybercrime and hackers.

This can be beneficial for anyone embarking on any form of online trading, which is often a target for cybercrime. For instance, CFD trading can be conducted on cryptocurrency, which allows traders to own underlying values rather than the asset itself, which is a more protected way of trading, done on platforms connected to digital wallets. The safety of the cryptocurrency wallet means that even if a cybercriminal bypasses the other methods for keeping financial information safe, there is a back-up that ensures they can’t access your hard-earned funds.

Password Encryption

One of the simplest ways of protecting your financial information when doing business online – yet also one of the most overlooked – is proper password encryption. Using one password across the board has been shown to increase the likelihood of cybercrime, while a strong password should also feature encryption as well as a strong combination of characters.

If you are conducting financial business online, make sure that the site you use – whether it be e-commerce or banking – has a strong level of password encryption. Most sites already employ strong password authentication and an encrypted SSL certificate to protect your information, so make sure that wherever you input financial information, this basic level of encryption is involved.  

Our financial information – especially in conjunction with our other personal information – is our most valuable asset, so we need to ensure that it is as protected as it possibly can be throughout every step of our online experience. The three key ways in which we can protect our financial information are to ensure the sites we use the information on and for are password encrypted, to transfer our money into cryptocurrency that is safer and more secure, and to use a VPN when committing any financial information to our screens. Using these methods, we should have a better-protected online experience with our financial information.