How to Tell if Your Information is Safe on a Web Site

Identity theft is one of the most prevalent crimes in America, and far too often its victims are unaware they’ve been targeted. The Internet is one of the most common places for identity theft to occur, and it’s up to you to protect yourself as best as possible. No matter the situation – whether it’s your bank’s Web site or a new site you just stumbled onto – you should always verify that the site is secure before you provide personal information such as your name, address or credit card number. Unfortunately, consumers each day fall victim to identity theft and other such schemes by unknowingly providing their personal information to criminals.

Is the page secure?

One of the best ways to feel confident in the site you’re looking at is to verify that the page is secure. Remember that when you provide information on a web site – such as sending your credit card number and billing information – that data is sent through multiple computers and servers. Anyone, theoretically, could breach one of those computers and take your information. But if the site uses encrypted software, your personal data is scrambled and useless to a potential identity thief.

Information security experts often talk about “SSL” as the defining characteristic of secure Web sites. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and refers to the process of encrypting your personal information so it can’t be stolen as it is transferred from computer to computer. SSL is the industry standard for Web site security. Sites must have verified security certificates in place for consumers to browse them. This is why you often will receive a warning that a site’s certificate has expired.

Follow these steps to make sure your site is safe and encrypts your information:

• Look at the web page address (or URL) and make sure the address starts with “https.” The “s” at the end tells you that it is a secure server. If you enter information on a site with an address that starts with “http” only, it’s not secure.

• Find out whether there is a “lock” icon on the page. It’s an industry standard to include an icon that looks like a padlock on a secure web page. Depending on your Web browser, the icon could be located in a different place. For example, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will display the padlock icon in the bottom-right corner of the browser window.

• Make sure the padlock isn’t a fraud. Thieves have gotten very savvy over the years and will sometimes build fake padlock icons. If your lock icon is legitimate, you can click on it and verify that the site is secure.

• Read about the site’s security. There are several different types of verification that a site is secure – and many of these versions have seals of approval or emblems to verify that the site is legitimate. These security certificate authorities, such as Verisign, SSL.com and GeoTrust, will give the web site a seal of approval that is evident on the site. By clicking on the certificate icon, you should be able to learn more about the security of the Web site.