The holiday season is almost upon us, and many companies are rolling out their best products online. While you're surfing the Web at work or at home, you may feel temptedââ,¬"but hesitantââ,¬"to order gifts because you've heard all the horror stories about online fraud and identity theft.
In some sense, your online fears are justified. As some Web sites have yet to provide completely secure connections, third parties could gain unauthorised access to your credit card number. In fact, some major Web sites do not validate user input, opening the backdoor to hackers in search of your consumer data. As a result, no Web site is truly safe.
To address your concerns, Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL have released wallet applications that make online shopping more secure. These online wallets use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, the industry standard in authenticating and encrypting messages between clients and servers. Online wallets operate by ensuring that purchasing activities only occur on servers with an SSL connection. However, keep in mind that they can only offer a relatively higher degree of security.
So if you're a wary user looking to shop safely on the Web, online wallets may help you stop Grinchish hackers from stealing Christmas this year. You may even relish the convenience of online wallets when making several purchases on the Internet. After all, no one wants to worry about sending credit card information to an insecure site, or undergoing the hassle of registering multiple times into separate e-commerce sites.
But be forewarned: The security and privacy problems with online wallets may outweigh their benefits.
