6 Security and the Internet - the Risks

6.1 Introduction

This is a general insight into ordering via the web.

Are you someone who destroys all credit card receipts, does not order with a credit card over the phone or will only use credit cards for non mail order purchases? If you are you are the sort of person who will be very unsure about making a credit card purchase over the Internet.

If, like most people, you don't worry about using your credit card then purchasing your products via the Internet will be of no greater risk.

The biggest problem is that you can't be sure how much is going to be charged to your card! ie. are you absolutely sure how much you are going to pay in taxes (if taxes are or are not included in the price) and how much it will cost to mail your product(s).

For example, if you ordered a compact disc from the United States a company may charge you �5 to post this to the United Kingdom. Often, it would still work out cheaper than buying it from a high-street music store.

6.2 Looking More Closely at the Risks

To be a little safer when making your purchases across the Internet you are best to not email your order. However you could use encryption, such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), to encode your email order.

PGP works by taking key information from the recipient, encoding the email order you want to send then posting this in the normal way. The recipient uses their key to decode the email.

The problem here is that if someone else has the recipients PGP key information then they can also decode your email!

There are newer, more secure ways of making your purchases, one of which is the Secure Socket Layer (SSL).

6.3 Secure Socket Layer Protocol (SSL)

This is a relatively new system (v3) which delivers server authentication and data encryption. SSL is layed beneath modules such as http, gopher, ftp (etc) but above the TCP/IP protocol.

When SSL is implemented on both the client (you) and server (the web site), your communications between browser and web site are in encrypted form.

Normally this works by entering your information into a secure form (https) which is secure between you creating the form and the server receiving it.

This offers Internet security. However it still doesn't prevent unauthorised use when the information is received by the server managers. Neither does it stop the company adding extra charges for postage, taxes etc (which you didn't know would be charged).

Do remember, however, that this could happen with any mail order purchase via the telephone (a company could add extra charges onto your card).

6.4 How Do You Know That a Web Site is Secure?

You will know that a web site is secure when you see the https: protocol.

Normally a web site would be "http://www.amigaworld.com" but a secure section on the server would look similar to "https://www.amigaworld.com/order.html".