Basic knowledge when shopping online

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These are things to look for when shopping with any vendor. These are all indicators that give a sense of reliability or vulnerability with a webpage.

Last modified:
March 11, 2011

References:
Mcafee Safe Online Shopping
http://home.mcafee.com/advicecenter/Default.aspx?id=ad_sos

Truste
http://www.truste.com/privacy_seals_and_services/consumer_privacy/Seal_Comparisons.html

Secure Online Payment
Paypal, Google Checkout are example methods of payment that provide consumer confidence when paying with credit card services including VISA, Mastercard, and American Express.

Services undergo security checks to ensure the security of their customers and their transactions.

These services act as middleman to provide secure transactions.

PCI Scanning and Vulnerability Web Site Seals

Trust seal logos often appear on webpages that are regularly scanned for security vulnerabilities.

Practically, this protects information you provide to the vendor webpage, whatever that may be.

The PCI (Payment Card Industry) security standards council has a list of approved vendors offering security services to audit internet vendors: approved vendor ist

Approved Scanning Vendors (ASVs) are organizations that validate adherence to certain DSS requirements by performing vulnerability scans of Internet facing environments of merchants and service providers. The Council has approved more than 130 ASVs.

Please note, the PCI Security Standards Council maintains a structured process for security solution providers to become Approved Scanning Vendors (ASVs), as well as to be re-approved each year.

Approval and re-approval indicate only that the applicable ASV has successfully met all PCI Security Standards Council requirements to perform PCI data security scanning, and the PCI Security Standards Council does not endorse these security solution providers or their business processes or practices.

Although the PCI Security Standards Council strives to ensure that the list of Approved Scanning Vendors linked to this page is current, the list is updated frequently and the PCI Security Standards Council cannot guaranty that the list is current at all times. Accordingly, each time a client engages an ASV, the client is advised to check this list on a regular basis to ensure that its ASV has successfully maintained its status as an Approved Scanning Vendor.

Some of the more popular alternatives include:

Mcafee Secure
Secure Transactions | PCI Compliance | McAfee Secure for Websites

Trustwave
https://www.trustwave.com/trustedCommerce.php

SSL Security Certificate Seals
SSL certifications by Verisign, Globalsign, Comodo are examples of site seals that approve of site security in security transactions.

In a browser, you will see https, or a padlock symbol.

Business Accreditation and Reliability Website Seals
Example: Better Business Bureau (bbb.org)

From wikipedia:

BBBs gather and report information on business reliability, alert the public to frauds against consumers and businesses, provide information on ethical business practices, and act as mutually trusted intermediaries between consumers and businesses to resolve disputes. News media frequently turn to the CBBB and local BBBs as expert sources of news about scams and consumer issues.

Consumer Ratings Sharing
These reviews do not necessarily reflect how secure a webpage is, but does speak of experience from other customers.

Places to look include Resellerratings, Shopzilla, BizRate, YahooTopService. You may also look for third-party webpages offering reviews of the webpage. It is not good to read reviews on the sales webpage itself, as they can be faked. Some vendors have gone to the length of creating false reviews on these various webpages and internet forums.