Securing online transactions and “httpsâ€
Electronic commerce, online banking and many other activities involve giving a third party confidential information, such as the details of a credit card. It is important that you, the owner of this information should be able to trust the party to which the information is given as well as the process for doing so.
Why is this an issue?
Sensitive information can be misused and abused by people who intercept or acquire it. Credit card information may be used to defraud you, other personal details (name, address, bank account number, social security or tax identifiers, etc.) can be used to steal your identity and allow someone else to be “you” in the online world. It does happen.
What you should do about it
Like discussed in Downloads, trust between the parties is essential but not enough. Exchanges of sensitive and confidential information should only take place if you are satisfied that they use the https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). You can look this up in an online encyclopaedia or with a search engine – the technical details are irrelevant for this discussion.
The use of https in a website requires that an independent trusted party (a Certificate Authority) vouches for a legitimate website and that the website provides a valid certificate. The use of https also requires that your browser implements it correctly – this is why it is essential that your browser software should always be up to date.
The use of https is essential over unencrypted networks such as WiFi to prevent others sharing this network to be able to discover your confidential information or inject malware into your device.