From phishing scams to cyberbullying, online threats have been a recent focus for the UK. Campaigns like ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ and ‘Would You Say It?’ were launched to raise awareness of the dangers of using digital platforms from websites to social media accounts, and the government is focused on reducing risks for residents.

In October last year, the Online Safety Act was passed which means that UK platforms are required to put in place extra protections for users. Advanced safety features are now the norm and should help safeguard against financial threats like identity theft. Explore more about these features which will see online safety continue to improve.

Encryption technology

In many situations from shopping on retail websites to making deposits on digital games like online bingo, we have to organise payments via the internet. Advanced encryption technology has been developed to keep your card or bank details private within those transactions to prevent hackers from being able to see and steal this sensitive information.

Look for the ‘s’ at the end of ‘https’ in the URL of the website you’re using before making a payment. This indicates that the site has a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate which proves there’s encryption security in place for data transfers, financial transactions and logins.

Multi-factor authentication

We all know the importance of creating strong, unique passwords for our various accounts using words or phrases unrelated to you combined with numbers and symbols. This is especially important for your email account which enables you to reset your passwords. This protection is being supplemented by multi-factor authentication systems for extra security.

In addition to requesting your login details, platforms will ask for a second form of verification. Usually, this involves sending a code to your email account or mobile phone. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) measures mean that your account is still protected if hackers get access to your password.

Online communities

While securing private information is a focus of the guidelines in the Online Safety Act, the emphasis is protecting users from harm. Digital platforms with online communities such as Meta, specialist forums and live chat rooms are required to actively work to keep members safe.

One of these integrated features is using people and Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to monitor behaviour and flag anything suspicious such as phishing attempts or content that’s against community rules. Users are encouraged to report unusual or harmful activity and can block access to their accounts at the touch of a button.