Home » Security Bloggers Network » Protect your private data this holiday season: Announcing Privacy Alert by Instart — a new Chrome plugin for better browser security

Protect your private data this holiday season: Announcing Privacy Alert by Instart — a new Chrome plugin for better browser security

Ever wonder who can see the information you enter on a website? Is it just the website or can other companies see it, such as the provider of the live chat on the site, Facebook or Google, or even a hacker? It’s time to think about it — and the answer will surprise you. 

A new type of security threat has emerged over the past few years called web or e-skimming. This happens when hackers steal personal information (like passwords or credit card numbers) that people enter into websites. You have seen the headlines: “500,000 customer accounts exposed in data breach of [latest victim name here]”. For example, in 2018, A hacker group known as Magecart stole payment details from thousands of Ticketmaster customers. The FBI even issued a warning about web skimming last month. 

These types of attacks are especially dangerous around the holidays. In 2018, holiday retail sales hit $126 billion, a 16.5% increase from the previous year, and this year, sales are expected to be up to 18 percent higher! And around Thanksgiving last year, a record 30.6 million passengers traveled on U.S. airlines. More eCommerce across all sites means more opportunities for hackers to steal sensitive data. 

But skimming attacks do not just impact eCommerce. While these organizations were the initial targets, hackers have recently moved to include healthcare, finance, and other sites where personal information can be stolen and resold on the black market.

To help you identify where your personal data is vulnerable this holiday season, Instart is releasing a new browser plugin called Privacy Alert. This plugin shows you which websites are potentially allowing third-parties, such as Facebook, Google, a chat widget, or even a potentially malicious piece of web code, to access the private information, like a credit card number, password, or even a social security number, you enter into form fields or that is stored in cookies. 

Find out which of your favorite websites may be putting your data at risk

Privacy Alert by Instart is a free plugin that anyone can install in their Chrome browser, but to understand why it’s important, you first must know how web skimming works. Along with their own website code, web developers also use code from third-party vendors when building web apps — both types of code can access any customer information entered into the website. Web skimming attacks occur when hackers inject malicious code into a website via the site’s third-party code, allowing them to have the same access to information as legitimate code.

Privacy Alert lets you know if hackers could potentially steal the information you type into a web form or save within a cookie. For example, if you visit a financial site, like your online banking app, and type in your username and password, the plugin will show if third-parties could potentially also view those login credentials.

Protect your privacy online with Privacy Alert by Instart! Learn more now

Make informed decisions about whether your information is safe

Privacy Alert arms you with the information you need to determine whether your data is safe when you use a website. Whether you are opening up a new account, logging into an existing account, checking out from a shopping cart, or subscribing to a newsletter, the Instart plugin shows you a website’s safety rating to help you determine whether it’s safe to enter your information — or whether a website has left your data accessible to third-parties and thus vulnerable to attack.

Most browsers provide the ability to see whether a website has a valid certificate but outside of this, users have very little visibility into website security and have no idea who could potentially access their data. It’s time to take the guesswork out of deciding if a website is trustworthy or not. Privacy Alert provides a new level of transparency around what information is available to third parties and potentially, hackers.

5 tips to protect your privacy on the web

There is no silver bullet to web security, but there are some ways to better protect yourself:

1. Make sure that your operating system and browser have the latest security patches and updates.
2. Ensure that that the website you are accessing has a valid certificate.
3. Do not reuse the same password across multiple websites — even varying your password a little can go a long way if one of the websites you use is compromised. (Personally, I love 1Password!)
4. Use one-time credit card numbers so that you don’t have to worry if the number is compromised. Alternatively, use PayPal or Apple Pay so that you do not have to directly enter payment details into a website.
5. Only enter your private information into websites you trust. The Privacy Alert Chrome plugin gives you the knowledge you need to make an informed decision about when and where you enter your private data. 

Privacy Alert will hold businesses accountable for protecting your data by giving you, the consumer, transparency into who has access to it. For example, there is no legitimate reason why someone other than the website you are using should have access to your password, and Privacy Alert will tell you if they do.

Privacy Alert is easy to use, gives you fast results, and lets you know exactly what information you enter into a website could be stolen by hackers. All we ask is that you use the plugin and share the status of your favorite websites on your favorite social channel to make your friends aware. Because, as the saying goes (yes, I took some liberties), “Friends don’t let friends fall victim to an e-skimmer!”

Protect your privacy online with Privacy Alert by Instart! Learn more now