You Think Shopping Online is Risky? Hah.

Since I’m intimately involved with two different online businesses, I occasionally encounter some well-meaning person who is reluctant–or refuses–to use their credit card to make purchases online. Apparently they’re concerned that their card information will somehow be hijacked and don’t quite understand the implications of SSL and the other measures that online businesses use to dramatically reduce the odds of such theft occurring. I’ve always wondered whether these same people are comfortable disclosing their credit-card information in other ways, such as handing it to an underpaid waitperson in some restaurant and letting the card (complete with the cardholder’s signature and the security code from the signature panel) disappear entirely from their sight for a number of minutes. Who do you think is really concerned more about the security of your card data: an online retailer whose entire business is at stake if their operation isn’t secure, or some employee in some physical establishment who can easily disavow any responsibility? After all, it’s the owner of the establishment who’s responsible for the data security, not the employee.

Anyway, that was a roundabout way of introducing this article, which demonstrates quite succinctly that your credit-card data is no safer in a physical store than it is in an online store. In fact, it may be less safe to shop in a store. Breaking the encryption that is used for secure online transactions is not a trivial operation. I doubt very much that anyone can do it while driving around with a laptop. In other words, physical stores like OfficeMax and Barnes & Noble are doing less to ensure the security of your credit card than even tiny businesses running SSL-protected websites.