ONLINE SECURITY

Security – protect yourself

Your internet security is important to us, so we’ve put together some guidance to help keep you safe online.

Cyber criminals can gain access to your personal information in a variety of ways:

• Spam is unsolicited email from an unknown source. Attackers may pose as a legitimate company and ask you for your personal details. This is known as “phishing”.
• You “buy” something from an online store that is actually a fraudulent site hosted by cyber criminals.
• Attackers may gain access to your computer by planting a virus or malware into your system.

Phishing

One of the most common scams is phishing. This is when someone claiming to be a trusted company/service sends you an email asking for your personal details.

If this happens, mark it as spam and don’t respond. Legitimate companies.services will never ask for your personal information over email. Ultimately, the golden rule of internet security is never to open an email attachment or click a link to a website from an unknown source.

No emails sent by Saga or a representative of Saga will ever ask you to send personal data via email.

Online shopping scams

A shopping scam occurs when someone from an online shop “sells” you something, takes your money and disappears.

Before you purchase anything online, check that:

• The web address begins with “https”. The “S” stands for secure and means there are additional layers of security in place to protect your data.
• They have a verified PayPal account, preferably a business account. If you pay into a personal PayPal account, you might lose your money if the product isn’t delivered.
• Credit card payments are made through a verified service. A locked padlock should appear next to the URL (web address) at the top of your browser to show it’s secure.

Virus Protection

A virus is a program designed to harm your computer. It’s spread via email and can do all kinds of damage, such as deleting data.

The best way to protect your computer is to install up-to-date antivirus software that includes an anti-malware application. Free antivirus software is available to download online but should be regularly updated.

To ensure you have the latest version, choose a program that automatically updates itself.

Strong and unique passwords

Online passwords are often our weak points. It’s tempting to choose ones that are easy to remember, but they’re also easy for others to work out and exploit.

To protect your password protected services:

• Use a different password for every account.
• Do not use obvious passwords such as names and dates of birth.
• Use a mixture of upper and lower case, numbers and special characters (*!?).
• Never enter your password in public where someone can see what you’re typing.
• Store your online passwords in a secure, offline location and look them up when you need them.

Your rights online

If the worst happens, remember you do have rights.

Every online service should have a clearly stated Terms and Conditions page that tells you everything you need to know about the company’s returns and refunds policy. Read it.

Credit card theft is rare if you take the proper precautions, but it can still happen. Fortunately, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 protects you for credit card purchases between £100 and £30,000.

If you feel you need further protection, some credit card provider’s offer purchase protection programs.

For more information about staying safe online or some of the many different scam that are out there, please click on this link: https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/technology/internet/online-security

How Saga protects you online

We protect you in the following ways:

• We use industry-standard security technology and practices to safeguard your account from any unauthorised access and so protect your personal data.
• All credit card numbers are processed directly by Mastercard. Mastercard use encryption to protect your card details and has the highest level of PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard) certification. Saga systems do not store any credit card data at any time.
• When you log in to MySaga, you are entering a secure session. You know you are in a secure session when the URL address begins with “https://” and a padlock symbol appears at the top of the page as part of the address bar.
• All online transactions undertaken on the Saga website are protected by robust encryption.
• If you forget to log out after using My Saga, or your computer remains inactive for a considerable time during a session, our systems automatically log you off.
• If you feel you have been a victim of cybercrime involving a company or individual attempting to impersonate Saga, please let us know at onlinesecurity@saga.co.uk. If you have an enquiry about any other Saga products or services, please visit our “Contact Us” page.