How to assess the security of a website?

Why it's important to check the security of a website?

The expansion of the internet and its use for the proliferation of websites of different brands and online stores, makes it essential that users have the ability and adequate knowledge to analyze the veracity and legitimacy of a website before providing any kind of information or personal and financial data.

In this sense, there are some actions that should be adopted together, by each user, in order to reduce the risk of accessing fraudulent or insecure sites.

The growth of digital business and online shopping, along with the increase in cyber attacks and fraudulent websites, means that security practices must be adopted so as not to compromise the safety of users' data and information.

The actions presented, if carried out together, allow the user to understand if the website has sufficient legitimacy to be able to perform any type of transaction or provide any type of personal information without it being compromised.

What to check to know if a site is secure?

Security certificate

The SSL certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) and the TLS certificate (Transport Layer Security) are network security protocols used to establish a secure connection between the user and the server. The best known certificate, and still used by many sites today, is the SSL certificate, however, due to the discovery of vulnerabilities and flaws, the TLS certificate was developed, which is an improvement on the SSL certificate.

There is a Certificate Authority (CA) that verifies the identity of the owner of the website before issuing the certificate to ensure that it is indeed legitimate.

It is possible to verify the existence of a certificate on a website through the URL that should begin with 'https' (hypertext transfer protocol secure), which means that the site is secure, and the information and data are encrypted so that communication between the user and the entity responsible for the website, is not intercepted or changed by malicious people.

However, it is important to remember that the existence of a security protocol does not guarantee absolute security, as they may be forged. Therefore, it is important to check other security measures to ensure that the site is effectively secure before sharing any kind of personal information.

Website URL

To effectively verify the authenticity of the site, it is important to pay attention to how the URL is written, whether it contains the right letters that correspond to the original address.

This practice is important because cybercriminals create fake domains where they make small changes to the letters or use characters visually similar to websites of credible brands and, all it takes is some distraction on the part of the user to access a site that does not correspond to the original, exposing him or her to potential risks of data theft.

The icon on the left side of the URL shows that the connection between the search engine and the site's server is secure and encrypted using a security protocol. Therefore, the information you provide - passwords, credit card information, among others - is protected and cannot be intercepted by third parties.

Security Seals

In order to verify the security of a site, another action to take into consideration is to check for security seals.

Generally, security seals are presented by a logo and are provided by credible cybersecurity or digital certification companies that verify and validate the security of a website.

However, while security seals help verify the security of the site, they are not an absolute guarantee that the site is secure, free from malware infection or fraud.

Privacy Policy

Checking the privacy policy is another recommended action that easily clarifies how the company treats users' data and information, as well as, what are the security practices adopted to protect that same information against theft, violation or misuse of data.

Likewise, it is also generally possible to verify if the information entered on the website is shared with third parties and who those entities are.

Payment options

Analyzing the payment options available is another action that can be considered in order to verify the security of a site, but again, it should not be the only factor to be considered to effectively determine whether the site is secure.

The website should provide recognized and trusted payment services such as VISA credit card, Paypal or Mastercard, as these types of services include security measures such as encryption, security checks, fraud protection, phishing and two-factor authentication to protect the user's financial data.

Contact information

Since many websites can be a potential source for attacks such as phishing, malware, or theft of personal data, it is important that contact information is easy to find.

Companies, who have nothing to hide from users who visit and provide personal information, should include in the website their address, phone number, email address and information regarding the registration of the website domain with company name and location.

Website Reputation

Checking the reputation of a website to assess how secure and reliable it is for conducting transactions or sharing personal data can provide valuable insight to the user.

As such, the user should seek out reviews from other users about their experience with a particular brand, in different places such as official review sites, forums and social networks.