Securing Your Paypal Account

PayPal has more than 8 million users in Canada accounting for more than $2 billio in paypal transactions.
If you are a regular PayPal user but are concerned about the integrity of your account, you may want to consider an extra layer of protection by using something called the PayPal security key.

The PayPal Security Key (as seen above) creates random temporary security code that help safeguard your PayPal account when you log in.
The security key token, which costs $5, is an electronic device or “token” designed that is carried on a key ring which creates a new security code for the user every 30 seconds. PayPal users with the security token must enter the temporary code along with their standard username and password in order to sign into their Paypal account.

Security Key Ordering and Set Up

Setup of the Paypal Security key is very simple. To order or setup your security key, users just log on to their PayPal account. Once logged in just click on “Edit Profile” to get to the “Account Information” screen. From their click on “Get the PayPal Security Key”.

Once you have your key, revisit the same screen but this time click on “Activate your PayPal or VIP (Verisign Identity Protection) token” to get to the following screen.
Follow the three steps shown below and click on activate. Once you’ve activated your security key, log out of Paypal.

The next time you log in to PayPal, you’ll need to enter your user name, password, and the security code generated by by pressing the button on your token.
This type of additional security is known as two-factor authentication and is used by leading financial institutions as an additional means to protect consumers and reduce losses from online fraud such as phishing attacks.
For $5, the Security key is the recommended way to give your PayPal account an extra level of security.
If you decide that you don’t want this extra level of security, you can de-activate it by logging onto your PayPal account with your security key. Once logged on, simply click on “Deactivate” which can be found on the Profile tab of your PayPal Security Key page.