Privacy is a hot topic in these days, because of the Cambridge Analytica scandal which concerned over 87 million Facebook users. Collected data were used to influence voters depending on politicians who bought the information. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg appeared in front of the Congress for a testimony, he publicly apologized and took his responsibility for the mistake. He decided to introduce the General Data Protection Regulation, in all Facebook-users countries.
The GDPR was created by EU in 2016, but its application became enforceable on May 25 this year, so every company is sending emails to their customers to inform them about regulation changes.
Privacy is a big deal, so customers should know how to protect their personal information, especially regarding those sites which manage money accounts, like online shops, banks or gaming sites. These sites are the perfect target for hackers and in these last few years many kinds of frauds have been invented in order to steal money or identities.
A very common fraud is pishing: cyber-criminals send emails posing as a reputable and legitimate institution, trying to induce customers to reveal passwords or credit card number. Pishing often uses banking email addresses, but you need to remember that banks or insurance companies never ask for sensitive data by email, so if you receive this kind of requests, you should contact the postal police and report the event.
Some hackers recreate a fake website, like an ecommerce website, in order to steal money. When you navigate an online shop, you can notice some signs which can help you to understand if the site is a secure one: for example, the https protocol, visible on the URL bar, indicates that the site has an encrypted connection, so your data are safe. Also, you can check for logos of security companies such as TRUSTe, BBB, VeriSign and for feedbacks from other customers.
Regardin gambling websites, they should show the https and a good antivirus, such as Thawte, but you should always check for a license, since only the casino websites that comply with national regulation can operate in the country.
In general, it is useful to have a good Adblocker and updated softwares, but prudence is never enough.
