We can say that paying online is safe, but it does require certain precautions. For example, it is essential to use reliable platforms and, furthermore, use them correctly. In this article we echo a new patent that PayPal has filed to improve security when paying online. This is about detecting cookies that have been stolen, which can prevent many problems.
We are going to tell you what exactly it consists of and we will also give you some useful tips to enhance your security. The objective is to always be protected, be able to make payments with full guarantee and not fall into the trap of cybercriminals. Unfortunately, there are many methods they can use to steal your money.
PayPal security improvement
But what exactly does this improvement consist of? What they have done is a patent to identify when what is called a cookie is stolen. They want to improve the cookie-based authentication mechanism and thus prevent account theft by this method, something that is quite present.
What hackers do is steal the authentication tokens that are stored in cookies. By achieving this, they have access to the account without having to validate it through two-step authentication. It is a major problem, since 2FA precisely creates an additional barrier and forces a second step to be put in place. But when stealing cookies, this is not necessary. It is basically as if the victim logs back into their own device.
They want to prevent the attacker from simply using their own browser, by using stolen cookies, to break into PayPal. It works through a method where they calculate a fraud risk score on the authentication mechanism which is based on cookies. This way they can identify potential fraudulent logins.
When the system receives an authentication request from the user’s device, it will identify the different cookie storage locations and classify them in order based on risk. Subsequently, the Paypal system is responsible for evaluating this risk score, in order to avoid manipulation.
Protect your accounts
At the moment, this is a PayPal patent and may or may not reach other platforms. What you can do is try to improve your security. Something essential is not to make mistakes when logging in. Always make sure you enter from official sites, do not click on links that you receive by email or SMS if you cannot fully trust them, and only use applications downloaded from legitimate pages.
Additionally, you should update your device. In many cases, hackers will exploit vulnerabilities to launch attacks. It is essential to have the latest versions and thus be able to correct these errors, with the aim of preserving your privacy and security when browsing the Internet or using certain payment methods.
Having a good antivirus is another essential method to enhance computer protection. Always make sure you have a warranty program that works well and allows threats to be identified as soon as possible.
In short, PayPal wants to make it more difficult for hackers to access accounts by stealing cookies. However, it is always necessary to take precautionary measures and not make mistakes. They can steal PayPal by different methods.
