Credit Card Safety
When you are giving your credit card number on a website the most
important consideration is, do you trust the company.
A common misconception among credit card users on the Web is that https:,
in the browser window, fully protects their card number from thieves. WRONG
- in reality, an encrypted connection to the web server only protects the
credit card number in transit between the user's computer and the server
itself. It doesn't guarantee that the server itself is secure, or even that
an attacker hasn’t already compromised it.
SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, encrypts data such as credit card numbers
and prevents the “bad guys” from stealing your information during
transmission. You know that you're on an SSL protected page when the address
begins with "https" and there is a padlock icon at the bottom of the page.
Your browser encrypts the data and sends to the receiving website using
either 40-bit or 128-bit encryption. Your browser alone cannot secure the
whole transaction and e-commerce site builders need to do their part.
SSL Certificates are the server end of things. They sit on the web server
where the website is hosted and are used to
- Encrypt the data during transmission
- Prove the site belongs to who the certificate was issued to
Who the site belongs to is your highest consideration. Remember, once the
data has travelled between your browser and the web server you want your
credit card number to be stored by a dependable, well-known company.
A SSL Certificate typically has information such as:
|
Authentic Sites use SSL Certificates to offer secure
communications by encrypting all data to and from the site.
xxxx has checked and verified the company registration
documents and the site's registered domain name.
This information is included in the SSL certificate that we issue.
This enables you to check the site's validity yourself. Always check
a site's certificate before entering any sensitive information.
Below are the details for certificate: XYZ Company
|
|
|
[ organization ]
|
XYZ Company
|
|
|
[ domain ]
|
www.xyz.co.nz
|
|
|
[ country ]
|
New Zealand
|
|
|
[ current status ]
|
Valid
|
|
|
[ valid from ]
|
2006.06.06
|
|
|
[ valid until ]
|
2006.11.17
|
|
Take care.
© Spiral Web Design Limited
November 2006
Back to Articles List