Online security and E-commerce

I can only speak from personal experience. I've been buying stuff online for years, and never had a problem.

I've done a lot of buying on-line and also never had a problem. What's the problem?

Also, I have never had a problem. I think if you use a little common sense and don't respond the the "You must renew your account information or you account will be suspended." emails then you are not likely to have a problem.

Online commerce would have to be considered orders of magnitude more secure than the credit card bills, bank/investment house statements, etc. that come through snail mail. Anyone driving by can get my credit card numbers, SS number, bank account numbers, etc just by opening up my mailbox. In a secure online transaction, all that info is protected.

And it is just for that reason that I have had all such mail sent to a PO box for the last 20 years. Mail delivery at the street is just playing the odds.

Isolate. Low value credit card with its OWN password for online transactons.

Passwords. change them from time to time.

Keep Paypal out of your life. Talk to the rep in person. (make a friend!) These third party companies are one more link in the chain which could be compromised.

When halfway through a transaction, there is a "blip" and you have to start over, DON'T start over. This may be a re-director. Leave the site, and come back in. And mention it to the webmaster.

Write the words "photo ID Required on all your credit cards" (offline trick, sorry)

Check that you are getting YOUR credit card back from the waitress.

See that security camera? Cover your hand when you enter your pin number.

I don't believe that the problem is limited to on line transactions. recently there have been instances where hackewrs have penetrated supposedly secure databases and stolen credit card information. In another case a hard drive containing a customer database went missing "while in transit".

There are two components to the problem. The first is how you and I handle giving our information to a store, be it in person or while online.

The second is how the companies who receive that info handle it.

In the first case, moving to biometrics where your finger or palm print is necessary to complete any transaction is a good step towards safer commerce. While "smart" credit cards with chips embedded within them are in the test stage, and they hopefully will close some of the security loopholes that exist with conventional cards, the concern is whether criminals will develop a reader to obtain that info.

Governments will have to pass stricter legislation for companies who collect and use credit information from customers. Too many holes in exist today.

In "my world of the future" I believe using biometrics to complete the transaction along with a scrambles signal which, if intercepted by a third party renders the information useless is the best way to go.