How Secure is Your Transaction?
26-36-2002
By: James Cloney
How do you tell if your Internet connections are secure? These days many people are opting to use the Internet or World Wide Web for shopping instead of fighting for a parking space in crowded towns and cities. You can buy anything from books to groceries, even book that long needed holiday. But how secure is your online transaction.
Nearly all online purchases are made with a credit card and in some cases a debit card or laser card. To ensure the safety of you personal details many web sites use something known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt your card details as they are sent from your home pc to the company hosting the online shop. These sites usually inform you they are using this technology. If the don't check if the web address on the page that asks for your credit card information begins with " https:// " instead of " http:// ".
This is something to watch out for when you are carrying out a purchase online. You should only ever give your password and credit card number through a secure connection on a web site, never in an e-mail.
"Theft of identity," in which someone gets access to your bank account or gets credit cards or loans in your name, is a problem, and you should carefully guard personal information that might allow a thief to impersonate you.
Other ways to tell whether a web site uses security software:
* You see the icon of a lock on the status bar (Microsoft Internet Explorer).
* Your browser displays the icon of a locked padlock at the bottom of the screen (Netscape Navigator; - versions 4.0 and higher);
* You see the icon of an unbroken key at the bottom of the screen (earlier versions of Netscape Navigator);
Alternatively if you see something you like on the web but don't want to give your credit card details online many web merchants allow you to order online and give your credit card information over the phone. If you're more comfortable with this option, make a note of the phone number, company, the date and time of your call, and the name of the person who recorded your credit card number. Hence you have all the details should anything go wrong. Happy shopping.
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