This Valentine, prevent hacking heartaches on dating websites!

As Valentine's Day gets closer, online match-making or social networking sites are likely to be even busier as even more people make a determined effort to find their perfect partner.

While match-making and social networking sites provide a convenient and seemingly safe way to make new friends and partners, some more unscrupulous visitors to these sites might be more interested in capturing the identity of an online dater, rather than capturing their heart.

Site members are vulnerable to cyber criminals because they often share sensitive personal data about themselves, including information about where they live, whether they are a student or in employment.

These facts are often supported by images and photographs, all of which provide more clues and insight to that person's life. When they need to pay for the services offered, they also share credit card or financial details.

In some cases, some dating sites require payment to access their services or details about their members, which means that financial or credit card details are shared.

Reasons to worry

Despite the value of this information, member's access to these sites is often only regulated by vulnerable, static passwords, which can be pharmed or phished, making it easy to steal password information from an individual.

This enables criminals to pose illegitimately as the member either online or offline, on that site or on others, and often for nefarious purposes.

So, while Valentine's Day is a good opportunity to think seriously about online security, it should also serve as a timely reminder about the need to be extra cautious when logging onto websites and sharing personal data all year round.

"Even websites that seem safe are very often not secured and are not able protect against malware attacks," said Jan Valcke, President and COO, VASCO Data Security International.

McAfee recently released findings from its '2013 Love, Relationships, and Technology' survey which examines the pitfalls of sharing personal data in relationships and discloses how breakups can lead to privacy leaks online.

McAfee has found that 77% of adults have had their personal content leaked to others without their permission. Additionally, 3 in 10 ex-partners have threatened that they would expose risqué photos of their ex online.

Despite the risks, 53% Indians still plan to send sexy or romantic photos to their partners via email, text and social media on Valentine's Day.

The study highlights the need for consumers to take steps to protect themselves from cyber- stalking and exposure of private information.

How to avoid heart aches!

Leading online dating brands including eHarmony, Match.com and MySingleFriend are holding preliminary talks to establish a code of conduct addressing such issues, as per news reports.

The UK European Consumer Centre has also advised caution to potential online dating site customers highlighting how disputes over the terms and conditions of some sites are on the rise.

So, the pan-industry group aims to address how the industry should set standards around specific issues like ensuring the authenticity of user profiles and issues around the removal of online profiles as well as subscription cancellation.

As for users,one very important way they can help themselves to protect their online assets by having strong password management in place. For example, there are websites - and not just dating websites - that are supported by MYDIGIPASS.COM, an online platform that allows web application owners to facilitate password management while adding an additional level of security to the access log-in procedure.

Other than this, users can stay safer and alert online by following key rules: https://www.dqindia.com/dataquest/analysis/174126/how-safe-safer-internet-day

Being wise online, keeping safe and secure all year around, can prevent a lot of heart-ache later on!