Tips to help secure your personal information

Many people are afraid to use the Internet to buy and sell because they fear that their personal details and credit card numbers will become freely available. Understand the following tips to help secure your personal information.

1. Check a Web Sites Security

When sending personal details and credit card information to a vendors site, your details are sent in a coded, or encrypted form. Websites contain information about their security, which can be checked.

Identify a Secure Connection

• The first indication that a site is secure is the web address or URL begins with the prefix "https" and not "http". The extra "s" denotes secure.
• Another way to check to see if a site is secure:
• Right-click on the web page.
• Select Properties.

2. Viewing Certificates

Responsible and trustworthy websites hold certificates that are issued by licensed certification authorities. A list of licensed certification Authorities in the U.S. can be found On the State Departments website at www.secstate.wa.gov/ea/ca_lic.htm

3. Security Symbols

A security symbol appears at the foot of your browser window when viewing secure pages. Internet Explorer displays a padlock near the bottom right of the screen. If the padlock is closed, the page is secure, and any information that you enter into it is protected. If the padlock is open, the site is not secure.

Note: You are usually not on the secure area of a website until you begin to enter your credit card information. It is likely that the secure symbols may not be present when you first enter a site.

4. Passwords

Passwords are another method for websites to prevent people from accessing your personal account details. Remember not to choose a simple number that can be directly connected to you such as your date of birth, house number, or your telephone numbers.

Although this is difficult to do, ideally, you should create a new password for each new site that you join or online account that you open and never write the password down.

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