Vocal Voices

I have never done any Internet shopping, as I think there too many crooks out there in cyber space and I don't fancy giving my Credit Card details.

Reluctantly I'm now begining to realise that perhaps I am being left behind and it's time I had second thoughts.

I would welcome any advice on security.

At present I have Micosoft Security Essentials installed. Is that sufficient?

If not, what is necessary? - bearing in mind that I don't want it to cost a lot, as I'm not likely to be buying much on the Internet.

Aggers there is no substitute for Mk1 eyeball and Mk1 brain when buying off the internet. Programs only protect you from the most malicious of software, not the most subtle.

When buying online, you need to research the company you are buying from. Can you find any negative articles about them, do they have good recommendations, if they have comments, read them. I use Google shopping a lot and I do READ the comments, because even a semi reputable vendor can have the kind of issues I don't need.

Then look at payments. Do they accept credit cards and if they do, do they use SecureCode transactions. If they don't then you will need a good reason for buying with them. For example SNCF trains didn't have securecode for a long time. But I'm not assuming the French Government is out to screw my debit card.

Your browser has a certificate checker. When you are into the online shopping basket, it should be secure. htts:// instead of http:// on the address line and the whole line should be green with certificate information (at the right of the address bar), showing as verified.

Whilst excellent software will protect you (Norton has to do this 2 or 3 times a year for me), simple common sense will protect you more.

When buying or selling online, one rule covers all. If you receive an email about your purchase, sale, whatever, you close the mail and log into the account it refers to from a new browser. You never, never, never click on the link they sent you unless you, a) are expecting it (password resets etc), b) know beyond any unreasonable scepticism that it is from the person you expected.

You can get some good deals. For instance Mrs S has been having a tantrum because I can't plug her (very old) Microsoft keyboard into my spare Laptop I'm trying to give her. So I've done a bit of studying because Microsoft "natural" style keyboards are almost impossible to buy now. I've found a Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 on the Microsoft site for £100. I'm buying two of them from okobe for £41 each (I'd like one too). I did a fair amount of research before buying and they get a very good online reputation.

In the end you can't beat common sense. Online sales is like the biggest market you have ever been to. However it is extremely difficult to determine whether the vendor is trustworthy or not. Whereas, in the market, you are handing over cash and eyeballing the vendor; online you are giving over your credit/debit card details and have to use other means to ensure the company is worthy of it.

I was caught up in this early 2011 when I ordered a Laptop for almost £3,000 from a company with a glowing reputation and a newly revamped website. There was simply no indication that there was an issue until 3 weeks after I ordered. As you know it took months and a small claims court order to get my money back. Even with the best will in the world there are charlatans, the only thing you can do is to use reasonable software and good best practises to protect you.

MSE should be fine unless you want to frequent the less salubrious areas of the net. Oh and a virtually un-guessable mail address is a good idea too. But in the end it's down to best practises. When my daughter phoned me and told me she had put a different mail address to her eBay account address into an advert; then told me eBay had contacted her on that address and asked for her to verify her card details; I told her that the email was not from eBay and that she had given her card details to criminals. In the end I put the phone down on her increasingly strident attempts to tell me why I was wrong and that it had been eBay who had contacted her. She did have the good grace to phone me back 2 hours later and tell me that someone had been trying to take funds out of her account.

Simple common sense is worth more than 1,000 security suites. However that doesn't mean that you don't need a security suite.

The biggest open hole today is Javascript exploits. It is one of the reasons that I run a firewall suite as you simply can’t protect yourself from them any other way (withot switching stuff off that I use). Kaspersky, Norton and McAffee lead the field here with f-secure also doing well only on the exploits. MSE is pitiful here as it only blocks 42% of exploits.
In terms of shopping, if you go to recommended sites with good secure practises, you are unlikely to go wrong.

Stick to the reputable vendors you'd buy from in the high street to start with as well as those with a high profile web presence such as Amazon and Google.

A person told me they will never buy on from the Internet again because the Ugg boots she bought online were intercepted as fake ! If she had done her research she'd have known that £58.00 doesn't buy a pair of new Ugg boots, would have steered clear of them and bought from a genuine online retailer. She lost her money but she hadn't done her research before she clicked her 'Buy Now' on some obscure site.

If I am buying online from a lesser known vendor I also read reviews and delve deeply before I shop from them.

John Lewis, M & S, House of Fraser, Debenhams are great trustworthy online department stores with excellent customer service and a good starting point regarding security and you'll see so many items you never dreamed you needed but suddenly Want!

Happy Internet Shopping Aggers

Aggers, when I was working and travelling abroad a lot I got a card from ING that I could load up with money from my current account. It could be used like any debit card, but only to the amount in the account. I used to put all my other cards and passport in the hotel safe.

When my son started dabbling on eBay he did a similar thing. He opened a second bank account purely for use online, and only transferred enough money into it for any purchase. It might sound over the top, but it is a good belt and braces move if you are not sure.

Thanks Suff, Fugi and WM.

The security aspect I am most concerned about would be most effectively addressed by opening a separate bank account as suggested by Frank.

I'm not too concerned about dubious websites, as I would only deal with well-known firms. My real fear was if someone gained access to my
computer and obtained my banking details, but if there was only a limited amount of money in there, that wouldn't be much of a problem.

I'll look into that idea.

Aggers,

I have one of these

and one of these

Both of which can be loaded and used. In fact you can load both with cash at topup points so you don't even need to use a card to load them.

Thanks, Suff.

This sounds like exactly what I need.

Suff wrote:Aggers,

I have one of these

and one of these

Both of which can be loaded and used. In fact you can load both with cash at topup points so you don't even need to use a card to load them.

Ah, I see that things have moved on from the 'old days'.

I am actually surprised that things like these are not promoted more for online transactions. I wonder why?

These function like debit cards WM. So they don't get the interest on them. They are specialist cards and they expect people who want or need them to seek them out. Both of them will offer you an "Upgrade" to full credit card status. Mainly they are vehicles for people with bad credit history to gain credit services again. Something I have no intention of doing....

I've had a good look at the websites and read all the small print.

I can't see any snags, so I've applied for one from Cashplus.

I'll let you know how I get on.