![]() In general, avoid any deals that seem too good to be true, because they likely are. Online reviews (simply Google “reviews for ” to find online feedback).Contact information for the business, like a phone number and address.Additional ways to verify a websiteīesides checking for a lock, site seal and running the URL through a website checker, also look for the following trust indicators on a site: A secure website check can let you know any vulnerabilities on the site, if it is using encryption and what level of verification a site has. When in doubt, use a website checker to verify if a website is secure. But whether you’re on a mobile browser or desktop, the principles of looking beyond the lock to verify if a website is secure remain the same. For the highest level of authentication, if you click on the lock it will display “Issued to: ” underneath “Certificate (Valid).” Unfortunately, this functionality only currently works on desktop browsers. You should look beyond the lock by clicking on it once to reveal more information. At times they may use an OV or EV certificate, but because these require more effort to obtain, including proving a business registration, paying with a valid credit card and responding to certificate authority inquiries, most criminals are deterred from using them.įake websites using TLS certificates are usually caught, but they might be able to wreak havoc temporarily with a certificate. With DV certificates, they do not have to prove that the company is legitimate. Typically, fraudsters use DV certificates: low-level TLS certificates that some certificate authorities offer for free, so that they only have to prove that they own the site to get a lock. Research shows up to half of fake sites used for phishing have a padlock now. Just because a site has a padlock doesn’t necessarily mean that it is not a fake. Unfortunately, nowadays, a secure site does not necessarily mean a website is safe to buy from or share information with. The padlock means that information on a site is encrypted and browsers will consider it secure. Figure 2: What a Secure and Not Secure site looks like in Chrome on desktop. In the past, simply looking for the lock was enough, but with the increase of online fraud you need to look deeper than the padlock to verify a website. ![]() If a site doesn’t have a lock, most browsers will display a “not secure” warning. ![]() They are used by the world's leading organizations to ensure user trust by giving users high confidence that the website is authentic and owned by the entity they believe they are transacting with. CAs may require certain documents and personal contact to ensure that EV certificates contain legitimate business information. Extended Validation certificate: contains additional validation steps and offers the highest level of authentication to protect your brand and users.This is the type of standard certificate recommended for a commercial or public website. Organization Validation certificate: organizations are authenticated by the CA (certificate authority) in official business registration databases.Therefore, it is not recommended to use DV certificates for commercial purposes. However, DV certificates do not provide organizational identification information. Domain Validation certificate: verifies ownership of the domain.There are three types of TLS certificates that will each display a lock: Domain Validation, Organization Validation and Extended Validation. You can look for the lock on the upper left of the address bar. The padlock on a website means that a site is secured by an TLS/SSL certificate that encrypts user data. Seals that do nothing when clicked should not be trusted, as they are likely illegitimate copies of seals. Check for site sealsĪ site seal signals that the site is authentic, and you can usually click on a site seal to reveal more information about the website and how it was verified. Fraudsters may change up a URL name slightly, like using, or they may change the domain extension - like instead of. One key indicator of a fake site is a misspelled URL. How to verify a website Check if the URL is misspelled Understanding how to check if a website is authentic will help protect you now and in the future against fake websites. Even as we transition to a new normal, online scams will not stop, and will likely increase. Department of Health and Human Services has warned the public about fraud related to the coronavirus, which could come in the form of calls, texts, social media messages or websites. Knowing how to spot a fraudulent website can protect your personal and work identity, your financial information and logins for your email and social media.ĬOVID-19 scams and identify theft are on the rise. In the age of digital transformation, knowing how to identify fake websites is not just helpful it’s absolutely necessary to protect yourself online.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |