Although e-commerce security breaches seem to get a lot of press, many security specialists argue that it is far less dangerous in cyberspace, than to go to the stores. This is because many cases of credit card fraud are committed by retail employees that handle credit card numbers. Once your card is swiped, you have no idea where that number goes after the cashier takes the receipt and places it in the cash drawer. Who sees that number once the drawer is taken to the back of the store? Where does that receipt go after the store has completed the transaction?

With e-commerce this is not a problem because the programs encrypt the credit card numbers at the web site level, thus making them inaccessible. The encrypted card number is sent directly to the gateway, where it is electronically handled. In many cases the store owner never sees the actual credit card number. For this reason experts say that e-commerce transactions are much safer than normal credit card purchases.

How secure is the encryption....