How Do You Know That Website is Secure Before Buying Something Online?

Every good, every normal, business website today accepts cards online for sales transactions. Public fear used to abound in making purchases online because of security issues with websites who accepted credit cards. While this is far less of a concern today, you still want to be sure that you are making purchases only from secure websites when shopping online. Chances are good that a website where you a buying product is secure, but how do you really know for certain?

Here are a few tips for knowing:

https:// – Make Sure it’s There. Every secure website will show the https (instead of http) as you are logging into the shopping cart experience. The ‘s’ in the URL indicates a security measure

 

Look for the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate. If there isn’t proof on a website of an SSL certificate, ask the business to provide proof of it. This is the protective mechanism between your browser and a website, and most secure websites have them and will display the logo of the certificate provider at the bottom of the website.

There aren’t a great deal of providers of this type of security, and some of the most common providers include Verisign (which now has a ‘Norton Secured’ logo with a checkbox next to it), Thawte, and GeoTrust.

Even though the likelihood is high that a site who accepts online transactions is secure, it’s well worth looking for the signs that indicate such. The most common indicator of security is the ‘s’ after the ‘http’ in the URL once you log into the shopping cart experience. Many online transaction sites will also display their SSL certificate provider at the bottom of the page either on all pages or within the actual shopping cart experience. If you don’t see either of these during your shopping experience, it’s absolutely an indication that you could have a security breach on your hands and that you should steer clear of the site.

Cara Aley is a freelance writer who writes about everything from digital marketing strategy to health and wellness.