Computer Security and Online Gaming – Protect yourself at Casinos

Computer Security and Online GamingIt doesn’t matter if you’re playing for fun or for profit; something you never want to risk is the safety of your personal and financial information.  Identity theft and fraud are major concerns when it comes to making online transactions of any kind.  However, there are several actions you can take when purchasing anything online as well as making deposits at an online casino to protect your account against the threat of hackers.  In addition to the basic guidelines of online security, you’ll find specific items below that you should always follow, particularly if you play at online casinos frequently.  Familiarize yourself with the steps below and put them into action right away to help ensure that you are well protected.

The best place to start is your email address.  Before you register at an online casino you should first create a brand new email address that is used solely for your online casino account.  This is beneficial because, in the event that someone is able to hack into your personal email account, they will have no access to your online casino account.  We tend to use our personal email addresses frequently, thereby making them more well-known and more readily available for hackers to prey on.  If you create a special account that is only used for playing at an online casino then it’s unlikely to be used a great deal and harder for a hacker to identify it as a potential target for abuse.

Similarly, the password that you use for this new email address should be completely different from any of your other passwords.  Avoid easily identifiable passwords such as “Password” or “Password123” so that it’s more difficult to crack.  Combinations of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation generally prove to be much too challenging for hackers.  In addition to establishing a unique password, you should also create a unique username for each of the casinos you join.  By keeping your username and password combination different for each property you play at, you are preventing someone from accessing your other accounts automatically.

Computer Security and Online Gaming – Computer Malware

This last tip is a big one.  Always run frequent scans on your computer to detect potentially threatening viruses and keylogging applications.  Depending on how often you play, you may want to schedule the scan to run daily (simply choose a time when you’re sleeping so that the scan doesn’t interfere you’re your online activity).  At the bare minimum, you should scan once a week.  You should also make a point of changing the passwords for all or, at the very least, your main accounts, every month.  If you find that a long time has passed since you last made a deposit you should probably think about de-activating your casino account.  You can contact the casino to arrange this, just let them know that you’d like to reserve the right to open it again in the future.  If you take this precaution, when someone tries to unlawfully gain access to your account you would receive an email stating that your account had been reactivated.  You would then have the option to update your password or close your account completely.

Online casinos go to great lengths to ensure the safety and privacy of their members.  Generally speaking, they are far safer than other e-commerce sites because they understand how important this level of protection is to the players.  If you follow the simple steps above you’re virtually guaranteed a hassle-free and completely secure online gaming experience.