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Is It Safe
to Shop on the Internet? When you shop on the Internet, you have the same concerns as you do
when you use a catalog to shop over the telephone.
- Impersonation: Is the business that takes receiving my order authentic?
- Eavesdropping: Could someone "listen in" to my order and steal my credit card
number?
In the real world, you
often give your credit card to cashiers or waiters, and you give out your account number
over the phone when placing an order. Using your credit card number on the Internet is no
more dangerous than these practices. In fact, it is often more secure to give out your
account number over the Internet, because many sites work with your browser software to
encode your transaction so if outside parties intercept it, they won't be able to read it.
Who is your
authorized online retailer?
We have formed
a relationship with CCNOW
which allows us to accept credit cards securely over the Internet. This wholesale
relationship allows us to avoid charging sales tax to any Internet customers. After
you decide to purchase a product, you will be routed to the CCNOW site for SSL Encrypted Transmission of your credit card and shipping
information.
Call CCNow's
toll free customer-service number (1-877-CCNOW-77). They are always
happy to help with any billing questions that may arise.
What is SSL?
SSL stands for
Secure Sockets Layer and is the standard Internet protocol for
secure communications. It is a connection-based protocol that uses encryption to offer
authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation. SSL is a type of sockets communication and
resides between TCP/IP and upper layer applications, requiring no changes to the
application layer.
How is it used?
SSL is used typically between server and client to
secure the connection. A common TCP/IP sockets call is substituted for a call to SSL
sockets and a variety of application programming interfaces (APIs) are offered. This
approach of "plugging in" security at the socket layer can significantly reduce
development time in contrast to building and incorporating the necessary cryptographic
components to assure the same security
How
Encryption Works?
There are two levels of encryption: 40-bit and 128-bit. With 40-bit
encryption, there are billions of possible keys to decipher the coded information, and
only one of them works. Someone intercepting the information would have to find the right
key - a nearly impossible task. With 128-bit encryption, there are 300 billion trillion
times as many keys as with 40-bit encryption. It is virtually impossible for an
unauthorized party to find the right key, even if they are equipped with the best
computers.
Note that security features do not prevent you from viewing
nonencrypted web sites or place any limitations on your use of the World Wide Web, email,
or newsgroups.
You can check your Internet Explorer or Navigator browser as
follows.
Internet Explorer 4.0
and above.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0
tells you when encryption is in use by displaying a padlock icon in the bar at the bottom of the IE window.
With IE 4.0, you can find
out a web site's encryption level:
Go to the web site you want to
check.
Right-click on the web site's
page and select Properties.
Click the Certificates button.
In the Fields box, select
"Encryption type." The Details box shows you the level of encryption (40-bit or
128-bit).
Checking for Encryption Netscape
4.0 and above:
Look for these two things: In the Location bar, the URL
(web address) has https: at the beginning, instead of http:.
The padlock in the lower left corner of the Navigator window will be
closed instead of open.
Follow these steps to see what
level of encryption you have:
Open a page in Navigator.
Click the Security button in the
Navigator toolbar.
In the left frame of the
Security window, click the Navigator item.
Click the Configure SSL v2
button.
If the dialog box that appears
contains "Encryption with a 128-bit key" in the list of ciphers, you are using
the 128-bit version of Netscape's software. Otherwise, you're using the 40-bit version.
You can also check to see if a
web site is using encryption:
- Go to the web site you want to check.
- Click the Security button in the Navigator's toolbar. The Security
Info dialog box indicates whether the web site uses encryption.
- If it does, click the Open Page Info button to display more
information about the site's security features, including the type of encryption used.
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