Have you ever doubted your safety while navigating the web? How can you be sure that all your personal information is protected? The internet has given people easy access to almost anything, anywhere in the world. With just a click of a button, or creating a username/password, we can search, purchase, access and download just about anything. People are now able to purchase something from the other side of the world and get it shipped home in a matter of a few weeks or less, but is it always safe to give out all your personal information online? How can we truly trust the vendor if we don’t know them?

It is very easy to clone a real website and it doesn’t take a skilled developer long to produce a very professional-looking, but unprotected site. Websites which request more personal information than you would normally expect to give, such as an e-mail, password, date of birth, hometown, credit card information, or other security details IN FULL, can have malicious intentions- but scams, hoaxes, and frauds can be avoided.

Before entering private information such as passwords or credit card details on a website, you can ensure that the link is secure in two ways: To find out if you are browsing a secure website, you can see it in the bottom right of the screen. There should be a padlock symbol in the browser, which appears when you attempt to log in or register. If the padlock is on the actual page, it is not a secure website.

The second alternative is the address bar. If the page URL starts with https: //, you are on a secure page (the S stands for secure); If the URL starts with http: //, the page is not secure. If there is NO padlock in the browser window or ‘https://’ at the beginning of the web address to signify that it is using a secure link, do not enter personal information on the site.

The S indicates that the website owners have a digital certificate that has been issued by a trusted third party, which indicates that the information transmitted online from that website has been encrypted and protected from being intercepted and stolen by third parties.

Get Safe Online suggests that when using websites that you do not know, look for an Extended Validation (or EV-SSL) certificate, which indicates that the issuing authority has conducted thorough checks into the website owner. The type of certificate held can be determined by clicking the padlock symbol in the browser frame which will launch a pop-up containing the details.

If you are suspicious of a website, carry out a web search to see if you can find out whether or not it is fraudulent. Always get professional advice before making investment decisions. Sites that hype investments for fast or high return – whether in shares or alleged rarities like old wine, whisky or property – are often fraudulent. Online shopping, searching, or downloading can sometimes result in a good product/ service, but it is always better to know the risks, and how to avoid them beforehand.