Is it secure to shop online?

With the growing in popularity in surfing the internet among the public across the decade, online shopping has become a widespread activity in our daily life. No matter what you can think of, almost all the products and service are available on the internet, which vary from groceries to clothes, from cars to house. A research conducted by Pew Internet in 2008 revealed that over half (66%) of the online American admitted that they have purchased a product online, and most of them thought that it is convenient (78%) and time saving (68%). Despite the benefits online shopping bring us, it draws some concerns over the security problem of data transmission. 75% of internet users worried about the safety of sending personal details or financial information such as the credit card number over the internet. Is it safe to shop online? How to ensure the security of online shopping or e-commerce? What can we do to protect our personal information from leakage? In this survey, I would like to focus on the precautionary measures to better protect ourselves so as to enjoy a safe and comfortable online shopping experience.

1. Web sites with secure transmission
The first measure is to look for secure web sites which use the secure transmission standard such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Secure Electronic Transaction (SET). It ensures secure transmission of data between a web site and its client by using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). When sensitive data is needed to sent over the internet from the client, the public key of the web site is obtained to encrypt the data. It can only be decrypted by using the company’s own private key which must be kept secret, ensuring the security and maintaining the confidentiality of the message no matter when it is intercepted during transmission. An SSL web site can be identified by a symbol of a closed lock icon in the status bar or the protocol prefix “https” in the Uniform Resources Locator (URL). (Chan W. N., 2005) The following is a web site with SSL.

2. Verifying a site by Digital Certificate
Using a digital certificate is another way to verify a web site to see if it is secure. It is a digital document including the name and the public key of a person or an organization, which is used to verify or identify that a person or an organization sending a message is who he or she claims to be. Checking the digital certificate of a web site by clicking the lock icon on the browser can easily ensure the security of transaction with the web site.

3. Looking for the Web Site's Privacy Statement
Checking out the “Privacy and Security Policy” of the web site can give you a clearer understanding on how your data is processed. To be more specific, you can find out what type of information is collected by the web site, whether your information is shared with a third party and how it is shared.  If your data is allowed to be marketed to others, you can probably expect to receive spam mails.

4. Be Aware of Cookies
Cookies are a small chunk of data generated by a dynamic web page and stored in a text file on your computer’s hard disk. (Chan W. N., 2005). It is an online tracking system that stores information such as your login name and even your password you sign in a site, the web sites you visit as well as your shopping and surfing habits. This data is useful for the companies to select and promote their products and services to you through targeted advertisements which suit your interests and shopping patterns. It is a common and useful marketing tactics for the companies to expose their products to their potential customers, which in turn has a higher chance to earn a greater profit. However, this data are stored secretly without your active consent. All this information may combine to form a detailed profile and may be transmitted to the third parties in the worst case. Although you are allowed to set your security settings to disable cookies, you may possibly not be able to make online purchase from e-commerce web site where cookies are needed for running the shopping carts.

5. Using single-use credit card numbers

Since your credit card number can be easily stolen from the customers’ databases by hackers, it is not secure to use it for online shopping. To tackle this problem, it is suggested to use the single-use credit card numbers or “virtual credit cards” to make purchase, which the substitute account number is generated on a random based for one-time usage only. This method can effectively keep your actual card number hidden while performing the transaction. Due to the single usage in nature, it can’t be used again for other purchase even if the card number is stolen from a hacker.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons in conducting e-commerce. It indeed brings us convenience and fun in shopping online without the restriction of the geographical boundaries and time factors. The number of online shopper will be soared rapidly if the public’s concern over the security and privacy problem of data transmission can be addressed. You may find the advice above useful in protecting your sensitive data while enjoying the fun of e-commerce.

Reference

1. Chan, W.N. (2005). Computer concepts. Hong Kong: Radian Publishing Co.
2. Chan, W.N. (2005). Data communication & networking. Hong Kong: Radian   Publishing Co.
3. Horrigan, J. (2008) Online Shopping. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Online-Shopping/01-Summary-of-Findings.aspx
4. Online Shopping and Security (n.d.) Retrieved October 4, from http://www.extension.iastate.edu/publications/pm1789g.pdf
5. Online Shopping and Tips: E-Commerce and You (2011) Retrieved from https://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs23-shopping.htm