Think of all the people in the world who may know your credit card details. There’s the travel agent that booked your flight to New York, the airline systems operator in Atlanta who processed the booking, and your work colleagues who listened in absent-mindedly as you recited your credit card number over the phone. And that’s just for starters. There’s also the waiter in the restaurant, the theatre box office, the flower delivery company, and …. You get the picture.

Unless you’re paranoid – and some people don’t have a credit card because they are – then you use your credit card happily in hundreds of diverse ways. There is no reason, then, to suddenly worry about credit card security on the Internet.

Of course, nothing is ever 100 percent guaranteed, but giving your credit card details to someone via the Net is no more dangerous than giving these same details to someone over the phone, if (and there is an ‘if’) you’re connected to a secure server.

Secure servers

Anyone who is serious about selling on the Net will offer secure transactions across a server using security features such as Secure Socket Layers (SSL). This means that, at the point where you enter your credit card details, you are connected to a secure computer. When your details are sent to a secure server they are encrypted. In the unlikely event your details were intercepted - and some sad person would have to be on your line at the same split second your details were sent – they would be meaningless gobbledegook.

Your browser tells you if you’re connected to a secure server. In Internet Explorer 3, a padlock appears in the bottom-right corner of your screen. In Internet Explorer 4, it appears at the bottom of the browser window, near the middle. In Navigator 4, a yellow padlock appears in the bottom-left corner of your screen. If a site is using frames, the padlock indicator might not appear. In IE4, if you want to be reassured that you’re connected to a secure server within a frame, right-click in the frame and view the security information from there. In Netscape Navigator, right-click inside the frame and choose Open Frame in New Window from the menu options.

Dos and don'ts

Never send your credit card details by email. Email is not secure. It can be intercepted easily as it passes through many different servers on its journey. To send sensitive data across the Net by email, use a form of encryption such as PGP. See http://www.pgpi.com/ for more information.

You should always use a credit card, not a debit card, when you make orders. Credit cards are insured against fraudulent use, debit cards are not. Check out Visa’s site at http://www.visa/com/ for reassurance.

Using your credit card on sites which are not entirely above board – including many containing pornography – can be risky. Some sites have made unauthorised monthly debits once the details have been handed over, which can cause major upset or embarrassment. Try to do all your shopping with companies you have heard of or which have been recommended to you. To find reputable companies, try BizRate (http://www.bizrate.com/), which reviews and rates shopping sites. The aim of the Interactive Media in Retail Group (http://www.imrg.co.uk/) is to encourage E-Commerce and it has a great number of merchant members and affiliates you can trust. Verisign (http://www.verisign.com/) gives approved members its Verisign seal of approval. If you’re unsure of a site, make contact by phone, if you’re still suspicious, don’t buy from that site. When you buy online, keep printouts or screen grabs of all the pages relevant to your transaction so you know exactly what should be charged to your credit card. And don’t forget to check your credit card bill carefully when it comes in.