Avoiding Internet Fraud

Five quick tips for staying safe online

by Jason Parsons, Constant Contact Manager, Network Security Engineering

As the Internet becomes a more central part of our daily lives, there are more opportunities for you to fall victim to Internet crime. You've probably heard reports of stolen credit card numbers; you may even know someone who has lost money or time as a result of a criminal activity.

By following a few quick tips, you can help prevent becoming a victim yourself, and ruining your reputation with your customers in the process.

The bad guys are "phishing." Don't take the bait!

Have you ever received an email, a text message, or a phone call that asked you to confirm your bank account information or asked you to verify your personal information or password? You may have been asked to confirm information over the phone, reply to an email, or click on a link. Chances are good the sender told you to do it RIGHT NOW to avoid dire consequences. If this ever happens to you, don't fall for it. This is called a phishing attempt.

Phishing is an attack that uses fake web sites and forged emails to trick you into supplying sensitive or personal information, such as your password or bank account information. Naturally, you want to be helpful when you get a message saying that your assistance is needed to resolve an account issue. Keep in mind that criminals know that, and they will try to take advantage of your willingness to cooperate. If you provide your information, the phisher can steal your money, send emails out in your name, or otherwise cause havoc.

Often, these messages look just like they're coming from your credit card company or your bank. But phishing scams don't just target financial institutions. You should take the same care with your other online accounts, including your Constant Contact account. We will never email or call you asking for your password or other personal information. If you're ever in doubt, just give us a call at 866-876-8464.

Always use updated anti-virus software and updated software

Even the most careful Internet users can be exposed to email viruses and malicious software without even knowing it as they surf the web or read email. Thankfully, these problems can be detected and stopped by the use of a suitable anti-virus program on your computer.

The use of an anti-virus program is particularly important if you open lots of email attachments from unknown senders (for example, if you get resumes or press releases) or spend a lot of time on the web. That said, you should be aware that in several recent incidents, viruses have been sent from well-known, trusted sites -- so you shouldn't assume you're safe just because you only visit sites you trust.

If your computer is compromised by a virus or other malicious software, your personal information, such as bank account information and other passwords, may be captured and used by another person, or your computer may be used to send emails without your knowledge.

If you don't already have anti-virus software loaded on your computer, you should contact a trusted IT vendor or your Internet Service Provider for help. Either way, just make sure to use a trusted source for your anti-virus software -- some of the software programs on the web that are labeled as "anti-virus" are really viruses in disguise!

You can also protect yourself by installing the latest operating system security updates. Whether you're using Windows, a Mac, or Linux, software updates are available for you -- usually for no charge. You should make sure you're installing these updates on a regular basis.

Change your passwords periodically
 
Believe it or not, there are people in the world who spend their days trying to guess your password. Make their lives miserable by using hard-to-guess passwords and different passwords for different accounts -- and change them periodically, such as every year on your birthday. Also, never use the same password for important accounts (such as ones holding your credit card information) and free websites.

If you have many passwords, you can make it easier on yourself by using a password manager to securely store all your hard-to-guess and probably hard-to-remember passwords.

E-commerce sites are juicy targets

You should be especially vigilant if you run an e-commerce site and accept (or store) credit card data. If a user of an e-commerce site falls for a phishing attempt, only that particular user's data is exposed. However, if a merchant falls for a phisher, ALL customers' data may be exposed, and the merchant may lose its ability to accept credit card payments.

If you operate an e-commerce site, you should be vigilant to phishing attempts on your customers too. It's not just the big retailers who are targets of phishers. These scammers have been known to attack even the smallest and least-known merchants, and could send out emails that misrepresent you to your customers.

Reach out if you're concerned

If you think someone else may have discovered your Constant Contact password, if you believe you have been a victim of a phishing attempt, or if you have concerns about the security of your Constant Contact account, please don't hesitate to call us -- we're always ready to help!

For more information, CLICK to visit these websites:
 The US Federal Trade Commission's OnGuard Online
 The US Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Site
 The National Cyber Security Alliance's Stay Safe Online