A few decades ago, no one would have believed that there would one day be a way to comparison shop from the comfort of your own home, receive instant confirmation of purchases, and have the goods delivered to your front door as quickly as the next day. Heck, there’s even one-click ordering to make the process totally foolproof and eminently efficient. But there are potential drawbacks to shopping online, as well, and the main one is security. Luckily, there are ways to protect your private information when you shop online.
Look for the lock. Any time you decide to make a purchase online, you need to make sure that the website you’re ordering from is protecting your personal information. When you see the padlock icon situated next to the address bar at the top of your screen, it means that the data you’re transmitting is protected by encryption software, so anyone trying to steal it will get nothing but gobbledygook. That said, you should also take steps to protect yourself, such as setting up an account with a password, opting for 2-step verification whenever it is offered, and selecting the option whereby your payment information is NOT saved by the online retailer.