It seems that Newsweek is full of interesting articles this week. With each new one that I blog about, I think it pushes me that much closer to subscribing. I'm not a magazine person (except 'BIKE'), but even the articles I haven't blogged about are interesting. I feel cheap for using them as a source so much, but they have the most interesting stuff, so what is a person supposed to do?
This article has 12 pointers to online holiday shopping. Now, most of them seem to be common sense, but there are a few that are interesting.
"4. Look for signs that online purchases are secure. At the point that you are providing your payment information, the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating that the information is being encrypted—turned into code that can only be read by the seller. Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes."
Number three, to me, is just common sense, but after reading it over I bet there are more than a few of you who don't look to make sure a site is secure before purchasing something. It's vitally important that there not be anyone hanging on to your transaction. If they are, they'll find out a lot more about you than you want them to. So make that padlock is locked. If you do forget to look and make sure the connection is secure, and something bad does happen, follow point four and always use a credit card for online payments. You'll have little hassle getting your money back from the CC companies.
"5. Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen. When you visit a company's Web site, an unauthorized pop-up screen created by an identity thief could appear, with blanks for you to provide your personal information. Legitimate companies don't ask for personal information via pop-up screens. Install pop-up blocking software to avoid this type of scam."
This is one, I'll admit, that I did not know. I can't specifically think of a time that I have purchased anything through a pop-up screen, but I'm sure I have. I seem to recall it being a major business too. That's odd. It would have been a few years ago though, and nothing bad has happened, so I should be okay ;)
The other points are all valid and useful, but, again, nothing I think the average consumer shouldn't already know (I know, you're saying something like 'you'd be surprised,' and I'm sure I would).
Another article, along the same lines, but dealing with Phishers, is here. I think it's important information to have in your artillery. I was once offered a list of 5,000 credit card numbers and expiry dates, all retrieved from a big name website, and only a few hours old. I don't remember who this person was, but they had obtained it somehow, and they were passing it around IRC to anyone who might want it.
Check your CC bills, make sure you're sites are secure, make sure everything's copacetic, and then you can enjoy your holiday shopping.
5 comments:
I so approve of the buy nothing Christmas. The whole orgy of spending is just bizarre and damaging.
No presents? What is going on here? How about instead of presents we just give our little brother his guitar back? yeah, that's a good idea.
What brother? What guitar? I have neither. But if I did, I might trade him the guitar for Bob Dylan's new DVD set "No Direction Home". I'm sure he'd love that way more than his guitar!
Your brother is an accountant, I think he knows when he is getting the financial short end of the stick. OK, just let your brother borrow his guitar back for a while when you see him at Christmas, then when he comes up to Kelowna in the summer you can have it back. I love this anonymity, it's all so creepy.
Weird! That guy has a brother that has a guitar and likes Bob Dylan, too! Isn't that weird?! I wonder if his brother is an accountant and likes scotch. That would just be double weird. Anyway, I already planned on bringing your guitar at XMas, so don't worry.
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