As on-line shopping becomes more and more an accepted part of our economy, it seems obvious that their would be a concurrent increase in the frequency of computer related crimes such as fraudulent on-line marketing sites and identity theft, and, to a certain degree there has been.

On the other hand, the success of online marketing has the goliath's of the brick and mortar business world fully involved now, most notably the banks. As larger companies get increasingly involved in doing day-to-day business on the web, they bring the same awareness of security concerns that they employ successfully in other enterprises to the Internet.

This attitude has meant that online shopping is generally just as secure as heading out to the shops yourself provided you stick to the well-lit (expensive) areas. Trouble is, it's a lot easier to make a fraudulent website look good than a storefront, plus it's all so new, meaning people get fooled. Hearing that makes others hesitant to take up online shopping, while some of the early adopters with stars in their eyes are maybe not hesitant enough.

While the comparison of online shopping to regular business works well enough on some levels, the fact is that computers, for all their advantages, add several new security and privacy concerns that everyone who uses them should be aware of.

This article aims to cover the basics of online security, including a description of the methods online stores use to protect themselves and their customers. It will also go into detail on protecting personal information and your privacy on your Windows XP computer.

One of the negative perceptions of online shopping via credit card is that it is risky because sending your credit card number out over the Internet is inherently insecure. Anyone, so the idea goes, could be listening in on your transaction.

While it's true that data-theft techniques such as packet sniffing and capturing, address spoofing and man-in-the-middle attacks are real and have been and will continue to be used, these methods are well known, and modern data encryption technology is specifically designed to counteract the possibility of eavesdropping.

The fact is, with current encryption techniques, the only way your data is likely to be compromised is if either your system or the system you are communicating with is compromised, which is why it's important to look before you leap.

As for what to look for, let's go into it.

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