In case you hadn’t noticed, cybercrime is now established as one of the most common and prominent threats facing consumers across the globe. This is particularly true in England and Wales, where there were an estimated 4.5 million cybercrimes reported in the year ending March 2018.
The threat facing citizens becomes even more pronounced when indulging in online gambling, which is why you need to identify a reliable source for safe online casinos and ensure that you’re playing through a reputable platform.
This can certainly help you to protect your personal data and the integrity of your device when gambling online. But what other steps can you take to safeguard your PC?
- Identify Reliable and Reputable Casinos
Let’s start with the basics; you cannot wager safely online without first identifying a reputable and reliable casino platform.
As a starting point, your chosen casino must offer 128-bit SSL encryption, as this remains the basic industry standard and can help to protect both your money and your personal data.
Similarly, it’s important to note that scam casinos and rogue operators will actively seek to steal your hard-earned deposits and winnings, creating a scenario where they won’t leverage enhanced encryption methods.
As we’ve already said, it’s important to identify a reliable and independent comparison site for online casinos, as they will rank platforms on a number of factors including their encryption levels, withdrawal times and approach to responsible gambling.
- Use Unique Account Information When Registering with an Online Casino
Once you’ve identified a shortlist of reputable online casinos and made your final choice, the next step is to register and open an account.
This process is also important from a security perspective, particularly as people tend to use the same password across a diverse range of websites and applications.
This should undoubtedly be avoided where possible, as it makes it easier for hackers to access your personal data and wreak havoc within a relatively short period of time.
So, try to create alternative passwords and email accounts for different applications, whilst ensuring that the login details used to create your online casino account is completely unique. It should also be complex, ideally including capital and lowercase letters, numbers and at least one special character.
This will make it far harder for individual casino accounts to be hacked, encouraging cyber thieves to turn their attention elsewhere in the process.
In the unlikely event that you are hacked, the use of a unique password will minimise the damage caused across multiple accounts whilst also safeguarding any sensitive data stored on your PC.
- Keep Your PC’s Antivirus Program Up-to-date and Relevant at all Times
We’ve already touched on the rise of cybercrime in the UK, with a staggering £130 million being stolen from 17 million UK residents online during 2017 alone.
With this in mind, you also need to invest in security measures that safeguard your device at all times (regardless of the online casino or wider websites that you access).
The best way to achieve this is to ensure that your PC’s antivirus programs are kept updated at all times, whether these are built into the computer software or purchased from a reputable brand such as Norton.
These programs provide ongoing protection as you use your device, whilst they’ll frequently scan your PC in the search for keyloggers, malware and potentially harmful viruses. This should be carried out at least once a week, and the software will immediately notify you of any risk when accessing a suspect website.
You should be particularly vigilant when using computers in an Internet Cafe or devices that are connected to a public network, and in these instances we’d recognise not gambling at an online casino at all.
This type of security measure is often overlooked in the digital age, with mobile gaming and devices such as smartphones and tablets used with far greater regularity.
However, PC gaming remains incredibly popular and has grown considerably in line with the virtual gambling sector, particularly as personal computers have become increasingly sophisticated over the course of the last decade.
With these steps, you can hopefully make tremendous strides towards keeping your PC and personal data safe when gambling online. Otherwise, you’ll continue to place your data at risk and increase the chances of your hard-earned money being stolen!
