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Informative Articles

Are Doubler The Next Million Dollar Program?
Doubler Mania! Is it the Real Deal? Once again we find ourself in the mix of a new era, Doubler programs are launching everywhere and people are flocking to them to get the chance to get the glory that they have been looking for in the chase to...

Autoresponders are the key to freedom from the burden of emails
Copyright 2005 Chris Stirling In today's business world emails are essential to the success of any business. As your business grows so will the number of emails you will receive. The bad news is that people expect prompt replies to their email...

Creating Your Own Product: Testing The Market And Finishing Your Product
Copyright 2005 Ronald Gibson Now that you know what you want to write about, the next step in the process is to gauge the amount of interest there is in your upcoming product. You can also do a quick search on The Dowser (download the free...

Increase your affiliate earnings with a smart webmaster plan.
Affiliate programs are a great way to earn an income online in a few easy steps. However, if you don't have a plan you are going to fail. A smart webmaster plan includes some pretty basic steps that you should follow every time. A website is a lot...

Reciprocal Linking in a Nutshell
As you probably know, one of the main differences between Web media and traditional print media such as books, magazines, etc., is the ability to jump to topics of interest through hyperlinks in the documents you read. From a marketing standpoint,...

 
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Security Issues Everyone Should Know About Online Shopping

While there is no foolproof way to ensure that no one will EVER access information you don't want them to, there are several very effective steps that you can take to minimize the risk.

When passing sensitive data like credit card numbers, addreses, or social security numbers over the Internet, be sure that the connection you are using or implementing is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL is a commonly-used protocol for managing the security of message transmissions over the Internet. Essentially, SSL works by using a public key, or password, to encrypt data that's transferred over the connection. The receiving software, usually a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, decrypts the message into meaningful information for the intended recipient. The encryption of the data prevents unauthorized access while the data is being transmitted over the network. (By convention, URL's that require a SSL connection start with https instead of http.)

Another step that can be taken to minimize the risk involved with transmitting information across the Internet is to use several different e-mail


accounts, each with a specific purpose. To limit your exposure to unwanted spam and potentially dangerous viruses, the e-mail address provided by your ISP or Web host should only be given to trusted parties, such as family members, friends, co-workers, and business associates. If you frequently fill out online forms that require the use of an e-mail address, use a "throw-away" address, such as one that can be obtained from Yahoo! or Hotmail. This will help stop your primary e-mail account from being flooded with unwanted mail, and it might reduce your exposure to viruses as well.

Several other key preventative measures to safeguard your personal information include checking your credit reports regularly, paying by credit card for online transactions (instead of ACH bank account debits), and searching for your name at a good search engine, like Google, to find out what information about you is online.

About the Author

Alan is the lead developer for InfoServe Media, LLC (http://www.infoservemedia.com/), a Web development company that specializes in Web site design, hosting, domain name registration, and promotion for small businesses.