Yesterday, I’ve written about the recently discovered vulnerabilities of PayPal in Part 1 of this article. Today, I will be discussing some ways on how to avoid them. But first, let’s make it clear that PayPal is a centralized payment system, which means that the whole operation is being run by a third-party entity. This is the very reason why it needs to ask you to submit your personal data when creating an account and every time you log in. It’s not a bad thing at all because this is how security measures are put in place. But as already proven, it’s also for this exact reason that centralized payment systems like PayPal are vulnerable to attacks such as identity theft, money laundering, and many more. So, how do we avoid these vulnerabilities?
1. Keep the security software of your computer or phone up to date
2. Avoid public Wi-Fi
3. Use a credit card as your funding method
4. Use a dedicated computer
5. Be alert for suspicious emails that may pretend to come from PayPal
6. Ship only to a verified address
You can opt to follow these ways to somehow keep your account and money safe with PayPal, but due to the severity of the vulnerabilities discovered by the CyberNews team in this platform, there is no guarantee that these ways will make you completely safe. In which case, it’s best to switch to a decentralized payment system instead. Check Virie Market for this matter. It’s a new and robust decentralized payment system and a virtual marketplace that guarantees the safety of your account and all of your transactions.
Using the most advanced blockchain technology, the Virie market contains features that completely eliminate all threats.
1. No personal information required
Unlike centralized platforms such as PayPal, Virie will not ask for any IDs or personal data to create an account. You can just use aliases, which will then be recorded in the blockchain, keeping it even more secure. To start using the platform, just download and install its application, and that’s it.
2. Use of cryptography
Virie Market uses modern cryptography to ensure the privacy of all transactions. Nobody can prove that a transaction was sent by any given user because it’s untraceable, and nobody can prove that a transaction was sent to any given user because it’s unlinkable.
3. Escrow
Unlike the traditional escrow, Virie Market’s elegant mechanism for escrow doesn’t need a third-party to process transactions. Both the buyer and the seller need to make deposits that will be forfeited in case any of them violates the agreement. It’s completely based on the economic principle that everyone has to play fair to make the maximum profits.
4. Proof of Stake (PoS)
Combining Proof of Stake (PoS) to Proof of Work (PoW) created a hybrid protocol that ensures the safety of the transactions. A hacker needs to have 50% of each to be able to infiltrate it, making it absolutely impossible to hack.
These are just a few features of Virie Market that guarantee that no such vulnerabilities like those discovered in PayPal will ever happen in this platform. While it’s true that over 300 million people have been processing their financial transactions through PayPal, it’s time to look the other way if we are concerned about the safety of our hard-earned money. Check Virie’s whitepaper to learn more about it.
