When you decide you’re going to relax and play some games, you don’t really want to spend too much time thinking about safety and security. However, it is important to practice good digital safety and ensure that you have considered what could go wrong. A few simple tips and tricks can make it much easier to play with peace of mind.
Only engage with trusted, safe sites
If you are going to play a game online, you need to be able to verify the security of the site you are accessing. There are a few different tools to do this, and all sites should have the basics such as SSL certificates. On top of that, third-party review sites can help you to establish whether a site is trustworthy, based on other people’s experiences.
For casino gamers, you can take steps to ensure you’re staying safe online by finding a trusted online casino, checking independent reviews as well as the license that the casino has. These are independently issued by local authorities and help to verify that a casino operator has met certain criteria.
Using consoles for online gaming tends to be safe and secure, but you should verify any apps and games that you install.
Use secure passwords
If you’re one of those people using the same basic password for everything, it is definitely time to reconsider. It can be frustrating having to remember a lot of different passwords, but there are modern, secure apps that can help with this.
Weak passwords can lead to account breaches and loss of personal data, and even potential financial losses. Passwords should contain a mix of letters, special characters and numbers, and be unique for each website you use. Even if you have a strong password, data breaches can lead to it being shared and leave you vulnerable to hacking.
Never share any personal details
This seems like obvious advice but one of the biggest threats to people online is the fact that unscrupulous people are willing to try and scam other website users, or even steal their identity for things like credit card applications.
Even if somebody seems totally genuine and starts talking to you with seemingly honest intentions, there is no way you should share any personal details regarding your full name, where you live, or any other personal information.
Block and report users who flout the rules
Rules are in place on a variety of different online games to keep us safe. Unfortunately, there are often people who disregard the rules and potentially even send abusive or unpleasant messages. This is not something that you should engage with.
To keep yourself and others safe from this kind of abuse in the future, report and block anyone who defies the rules and sends you inappropriate messages, or resorts to name-calling or soliciting information. Most games with a social aspect to them have a pretty robust system for blocking and reporting users.
Consider multi-factor verification
Multi-factor identification is another way to safeguard your account and make sure that it is harder to hack. Many of us use these sorts of methods daily, with technology like SMS verification and facial recognition being common on phones.
For instance, Microsoft account users can opt to use two-step verification whenever they log in to their accounts, which means that their identity is checked using two different methods, and it is much harder for anyone to gain unauthorized access to the account.
Update your system and software regularly
There are hundreds of different operating systems, though four or five of them are by far the most popular. Keeping yours up to date is one of the ways to avoid issues such as bugs and potential security breaches.
One of the reasons that companies have to continually make these updates is that people find weaknesses and bugs in the system and possibly exploit them with things like malware.
The same applies to software. There are teams of engineers working on software updates to make sites and apps more secure. Be sure to update when prompted or even set up automatic updates so you don’t have to think about it.
Only use secure Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi that cannot be verified as secure can also create a potential security breach. It is impossible to know if your activities are being tracked, while stolen passwords and your device becoming infected with malware are just some of the risks that can stem from using public Wi-Fi networks.
