How do you know if the website you’re logging into is secure?

In many places, you’ll come across information according to which in order to confirm that a given website is secure, it’s enough to find a "padlock" next to the address informing about the SSL certificate. In fact, the problem is a little more complex, and to be sure about the authenticity of the site, you should check several aspects.

1. The SSL certificate, i.e. the aforementioned padlock located left to the address, is indeed a very important, yet not the only website security measure. It informs you that the data you enter on the site will be encrypted. These days, however, anyone can buy such a certificate and install it on their website, and their issuers are sometimes entities based in countries found by most of usas quite exotic, e.g. Iran, India, or Bangladesh. Therefore, the mere presence of an SSL certificate doesn’t prove that you provide your data to a trusted company.
2. The website address is the key indicator of where you are. Although it may seem obvious, scammers can take advantage of your inattention and use an attack called typosquatting, which consists in registering an address that is deceptively similar to the one you want to find yourself at, e.g. alleqro.pl or aIIegro.pl (almost indistinguishable, yet in the latter address there are 2 capital letters "i” instead of 2 small letters "l". People impersonating trusted sites also often use various combinations containing the name of the company in question. Bearing this in mind, always pay attention to the domain, i.e. the last part of the address before the dot. The correct address will be allegro.pl/dzial/elektronika, as opposed to dzial-elektronika-allegro[.]pl. The correct address will also be allegrolokalnie.pl/oferty/moda, but not moda-allegro-lokalnie[.]pl. Also, logowanie.allegro.pl would be the correct site, not allegro.logowanie[.]pl, because the domain, in this case, is allegro and not logowanie.
3. The address bar at the bottom left of the browser window will show you the full address of the page when you hover your cursor over the link before you go to it. It’s recommended to pay attention to this element, especially if you are going to click on a link that you have received in a message from a third party.

4. Contact details, terms and conditions, and privacy policy. It’s essential that you check these three elements if you are entering data for the first time on a website you are unfamiliar with. This is information that every business must provide on its website if it does business or offers services online. If any data is missing or incomplete, such as the company's VAT number, business address, return policy, or privacy policy, you may assume that it’s an attempt at fraud, and at the very least that the company is unreliable. You should leave such a site and make an order on one that meets all the mentioned criteria.