PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

slor911 · #14 05-22-2003, 08:30 PM

jj ... it's not the person receiving the info that concerns me. It's the hacker using a sniffer to intercept data packets from a network segment known to pass unencrypted financial info that I'm worried about. That person has nothing to do with the ecomm site itself; he's just a technically savvy opportunist waiting for blissfully unaware folks to send valuable info unencrypted across the wide-open internet for anyone to see.

I am involved with internet security as a profession and know what/where the vulnerabilities are.

This is why (if you notice) on EVERY reputable ecomm site, there's a little lock in the lower right corner of your browser window to let you know it's a secure, encrypted connection. You'll see it as soon as you get to a checkout page requiring any "real" info. If it was not a critical component, then virtually EVERY ecomm site wouldn't go through the extra steps to set it up.

It's not to protect you against the person receiving your info, it's to protect you from everyone looking at it along the way.

Buying unencrypted on the web is about as safe as not using a condom ...

... just food for thought.