E-commerce Security: VeriSign Vermont

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Originally published at Internet.com

September is security month at Earthweb and I was asked if I could write something dealing with e-commerce. Since I had just finished the process of getting my own VeriSign certificate, I was fairly familiar with what needed to be done to start accepting credit cards over the Web. If you're thinking of starting an e-business, or if you just want to attempt to understand how your credit card is kept safe while you are using it on the Web, read on. This should help you a great deal.

I will never give my credit card number to anyone on the Web! It's not safe!

Ah, but you'll tell your credit card number to a complete stranger at a mail order company over the phone, or give it to a waiter who then waltzes out of the room with it, or hand it to a person behind a counter who makes a paper swipe of the number.

Now that I've been through the process of actually implimenting a server ID and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) on a Web site, I can honestly say that of all the methods of delivering a credit card number, I personally feel safest using the Web.

Contrary to popular belief, your card number does not simply go out into cyberspace for anyone with a computer to steal. It does not (or should not, if the company does it correctly) sit in a file just waiting to be hacked. Plus, and this is the real kicker, you know exactly who is getting the card number. Once that waiter leaves the room, any one of 1,000 different people can get the number. If the waiter is crooked, one phone call later and his buddy has your number and is selling it around town...

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