Credit Card Safety when Online

Credit Card Safety: Some of the safety-conscious online financial traders use the following techniques to safeguard against Trojan software which send the keystrokes to potential malevolent hackers:

1. Make sure that your browser is capable of the minimum standard cipher strength - 128 bit. If you are using Internet Explorer - Check by clicking on the 'Help'-> About Internet Explorer and verify that.

2. Verify that the merchant has a valid digital certificate by double clicking at the 'closed padlock' symbol at the bottom of the browser which will put a blurb 'SSL Secured (128 Bit)'when you hover your mouse over it. SSL Certificates hold vital information - about the owners of the certificates, the server to which the certificate was sold, when it was sold, when it expires along with a cryptographic key that can be used to encrypt information. They facilitate the secure transmission of information and the authentication process. You will find more information from Netscape's site here.

3. Enter a string of digits in a text file - including your credit card number in a random order.

4. Remove some of the intervening numbers around your credit card number. But make sure that you do not have a complete credit card numbers in this text file.

5. Enter portions of the credit card number into the browser by typing a part of the number and then copying the remaining portion from the text file and then pasting the part in the appropriate place.

6. Same way copy and paste parts of your name, address and other details for better safety.

7. Make sure that you run this machine behind a firewall and that you check frequently for the presence of any vulnerabilities - Virus,trojans and backdoor entries. There are many firewall software with easy to setup rulesets which makes setting up the firewall a breeze for even novices. Sygate personal firewall available here is one such tool to keep most of the obnoxious net traffic at bay.

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