The seamless world of the Internet has broken down the physical barriers that existed across regions on the globe. So today you could be sitting in Munich and buying goodies from Seoul.
Very comfortable and exciting. But when you pay for your goodies and wishes with a credit card, are you sure you're only paying for what you paid for? Chances are your credit card information will pass through alien territory into the wrong hands. As a result, you find your bank account depleted or empty the next morning? It's not a situation most of us can afford or enjoy.
Then how can we transact online while protecting our hard earned money from cyber pirates? The answer is quite simple. Whenever you decide to purchase a product or service through a website, check to see if the payment gateway is secure before entering your credit card and other personal information.
Payment gateways are secured using SSL or Secured Socket Layer. When you enter your personal or credit card information on a secure site, an encrypted public key is created.
This is called a handshake to verify a secure transaction. The unique encryption method that is created in the process will have a unique session key. This process protects against theft of valuable data and only the transaction you intend to complete is processed.
SSL certification has been found to be very reliable across internet users as well as between customers. These certificates are issued by a reliable and Payment gateway trusted authority, a certification authority. The website you are trying to transact through bears the hallmarks of an agency that has issued SSL certificates.