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Best Practices For Ensuring QR Code Security

QR codes are quite heavily used for various things these days. However, these codes are mostly used in public spaces, so people can easily scan them to access a website or initiate a payment transaction. A lot of restaurants these days have also started to create menus with the help of these QR codes.

However, as revealed by ExpressVPN, 46% of people admitted feeling the most secure about scanning a QR code at supermarkets, malls, and similar establishments, without knowing that QR codes can be unsafe for users’ privacy.

If you stay online all day and do almost all your tasks online, you can easily fall prey to QR code scams. Let’s look at what QR codes are and how they can pose a problem if used recklessly.

How QR Codes Can Be Unsafe

QR codes are primarily a two-dimensional version of a barcode. Like a traditional barcode, a QR code also stores data in black lines and boxes on a white sheet. However, since a QR code can store data both horizontally and vertically, it is capable of storing more data and is more useful than a barcode.

Since no legal authority can regulate the production of barcodes, it is very easy for hackers to scam other people with the help of fake QR codes. These fake QR codes are placed in public spaces by altering the QR code of some other businesses.

Common QR Code Scams

There are many instances of QR code scams that happened recently. For example, people were paying parking tickets in certain places and realized later that the money wasn’t reaching the parking department. Later it came to light that someone had replaced the Parking Authority QR code with their own QR code to get money from people.

Similarly, scammers can paste QR codes on the external boxes of your delivery packages, and they can even go as far as to send phishing emails by representing a specific brand or company. These tactics are quite suspicious, and users must always remain aware while scanning QR codes.

How To Stay Safe While Using QR Codes

If you’re committed to ongoing QR code scanning, especially for your safety, this page deserves a look as it provides essential tips, such as avoiding codes from untrusted sources, refraining from scanning random QR codes in public spaces, and emphasizing the importance of checking for any tampering before scanning.

Once you have scanned a QR code, make sure to check the URL of the website. Ensure the website of the URL does not have an https:/ prefix and rather has the http:/ server. Make sure to keep the devices and all software updated. Similarly, do not provide any permissions that any website seeks after you have used a QR code. If you take care of these steps, chances are you will not minimize the risks of using QR codes online.

Conclusion

It is very easy for scammers to use QR to trap people. If users of online applications are not aware of the dangers of scanning random QR codes, then they must be made more aware of the issue. It is obvious that QR codes are quite heavily useful, but the technology can equally be used to scam people out of money or information.

So the next time you plan to scan a QR code, make sure to take some precautionary measures to avoid getting scammed.

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