i shop online::To enjoy your digital lifestyle and stay safe while shopping online, make sure you understand the difference between a safe web site and a safe connection to a web site.
It could easily be a secure connection to a rogue web site set up by a fraudster.
Can you tell the difference?
Ultimately, you are responsible for making sure you are connected to a safe web site.
Here are some tips to help you.
Here your priority is making sure you are really at the online store of a retailer you know.
You must also verify you are at the legitimate site.
Look for the web site owner, and the name of the document issuer.
Sometimes the browser address bar will turn green or red.
Newer versions of browsers look for a more secure version of the security document in the padlock.
If you see the green bar it means it is more likely they are who they say they are.
If you see the red address bar, stop!
Something is wrong and you are not at a trusted site.
Finally, here is the last part: can you trust the author of the security document in the padlock?
You are taking their word that the security document is valid and the site is operated by whom they say it is.
So you better know who that trusted third party is that signs the padlock!
Unfortunately, it is possible for criminals to make or obtain their own padlocks and security documents.
Examples of popular cas include verisign, entrust, thawte and geotrust.
The problem is, whom else can you trust?
Well, yes it is.
Unfortunately, it gets worse.
This is a very different story.
The vast majority of retailers on the internet are honest.
But how willing are you to roll the dice?
Further, how honest are all their employees?
Their web site designers?
And how good is their web site security?
At a minimum, look carefully at the security indicators above.
The problem is, now you are dealing with a retailer you never heard of.
In this case, you may want to use a free third party payment tool like paypal, an ebay company.
Paypal protects you by allowing you to pay retailers through a paypal account linked to your credit card or checking account, instead of giving your account information directly to a retail web site you never heard of.
Paypal also offers an optional personal security device, a very safe way to protect you when paying online.
Unfortunately, some online retailers do not accept paypal or other third party payment tools like google checkout or billmelater.
This is a company that verifies that a web site has met certain standards on privacy and other criteria.
You can also file complaints about sites.
Two other internet trust organizations are truste and webtrust.
This should give you an indication that the retailer is established and trustworthy.
Fortunately for you, credit card issuers largely give you a free pass, penalizing the retailers for any online fraud losses instead.
Not much motivation for you to be safer when you pay online.
Still, even if we do not incur a direct cost for the losses, more and more often we have to deal with the lost time and inconvenience of replacing credit cards due to online fraud or data breaches.
Is there a better way?
The safest way to pay online is with some sort of personal digital security device to prove it is really you making the charge.
This could be a smart bankcard you put into a small usb reader when you pay online.
Or it could be a token that generates a different password you must enter on the keyboard for every online payment transaction.
This makes online payment much more secure, like when you make an atm withdrawal, because it requires both a card and a pin code.
One factor is something you know, the pin, and the second factor is something you have, the card or token.
Now the bad news.
These smart bankcards, like those used in canada, latin america, europe and japan, are not available in the united states.
Here is an of how leading u.
Bank barclays used smart bankcards to stop online fraud.
Some influential spokespersons are recommending smart bankcards for the united states.
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