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Are my
credit card details secure?
Yes. We take
security extremely seriously and use current industry standards. We use
a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) secure server with 128-bit encryption. Therefore,
your credit card information is encrypted (scrambled) and is perfectly
safe. If this technology is new to you and you don't fully understand what
that means, we would advise you to spend just a few moments to read the
rest of this short guide. It is essential information for people shopping
online. |
Why is
it important that credit card details are secure?
It is extremely
important that your credit card details remain secure in order to avoid
becoming the victim of fraud. Although some people are happy to transmit
their credit card details over normal internet connections or via email,
there are risks involved. By not using a secure connection there is the
potential problem that someone else could obtain your details and use them
for fraudulent purposes (i.e. buying goods and landing you with the bill).
Although this is unlikely, is it worth any risk? By educating yourself
as to what a secure server is you can buy over the internet confident that
you are doing so safely. Our website is secure. |
What is
a "secure server"?
The difference between a standard
server and a secure server is as follows. A standard server is the computer
you connect to, which allows you access to the internet (the world wide
web). When you browse the internet, your connection operates across various
computers, routers and switches, so potentially anything you do over the
internet could be viewed by someone else (not that it is likely, but it
is possible). This standard connection is not secure though, so it is not
really appropriate for submitting credit card details, just in case. Secure
servers were designed specifically to transfer sensitive information via
the internet in a perfectly safe way. The secure server encrypts the data
(such as credit card numbers) before transmitting it across the web. Encrypting
means that the information is effectively scrambled into an unreadable
format before it reaches the internet and is then unscrambled back to how
it was when it reaches the intended destination. This means that if the
information were somehow intercepted that it would be useless. There have
been no reported problems with this system, so you can be confident that
your details are secure. |
How can
I confirm a server is secure?
Here we explain
how you can confirm our payment pages are hosted on a secure server. You
can then use the information to confirm the security of other sites before
using them. There are a number of ways to confirm the server is secure
by looking on the payment page (the one which asks for your credit card
number). Firstly, look at the URL of the page. Normally it will start with
HTTP, but on a secure server it starts with HTTPS (the 'S' denoting
Secure). Also look out for a padlock icon. Clicking on this (or in
some browsers hovering over it) will show the certificate displayed confirming
the payment screen is hosted on a secure server. You will also see that
the certificate has been issued by "Thawte" and the date the certificate
was valid from and when it expires. If you haven't heard of "Thawte", they
are one of the largest certificate authorities in the world. A simple search
for "Thawte" on any Search Engine such as Google or Yahoo! will give you
more details about them if you need it. Hopefully now you have all the
information you need for safe shopping on the internet. So you can shop
with confidence now! Enjoy! |
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