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Afraid to Buy:
Many people feel as though sending credit
card information via email or through an
insecure server is akin to announcing it
on public media, this is not really the
case.
Using your credit card on the Internet is
about as risky as using it in any other
brick and mortar establishment that you
may visit 10 times a week.
When you use your card at, let's say a restaurant,
the card usually is taken from your sight
for a time, during which the number could
be written down by someone very easily.
It is also run through a credit card machine,
which make s a carbon copy and usually just
throws these into the trash. Anyone from
workers, to janitors, to garbage picks,
to garbageman could easily get their hands
on these and use them.
The same thing happens to your account number
when you use it in mail order. And, letters
can be lost or stolen from mail boxes at
either end of the transaction or even en
route.
On the Internet, it is possible for a hacker
to devise a way to read mail that's en route
someplace else. The hacker may obtain credit
card numbers from that email. But most websites
have an encryption system that makes it
next to impossible for this to happen.
Always make sure to look for the little
padlock at the bottom of your browser and
make sure you are using the most updated
version of the browser as well.
Here are some useful products to help you
surf safely:
Ad
aware - AdAware is a free privacy tool,
that scans your memory, registry, hard,
removable and optical drives for known data-mining,
aggressive advertising, and tracking components.
It then lists the results and offers to
remove or quarantine the components. The
program detects a wide range of adware/spyware
related issues and can be updated with the
latest signatures via the built-in update
utility.
Google
Toolbar and popup blocker - If you don't
have a pop up blocker, then this is a great
one to use.
Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware - Help protect your PC from spyware and other potentially unwanted software.
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