Is that web site secure

Had a client in yesterday that had a bad experience with a Paypal transaction.  For those of you who don't know about Paypal, it is a method of payment quite popular with websites like Ebay, Amazon etc.

She asked me if it was safe to do transactions on line and my response conjured up today's Blog subject. My answer to her was that it was a matter of knowledge when dealing with secure sites. So here is the scoop....

First thing to do is look at the address that comes up when you are on a site...if it is www.garagedooropeners.net and you are seeing a Mastercard page it probably isn't the right site...

Secondly as the illustration shows below make sure it has https in the beginning and not just http.  https is secure, http is not.

Third look for a little lock after the url (url is the address , like www.paypal.com) like in the illustration below. FYI for you Firefox users it is in is way down in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Forth do not click a link from your e-mail to a secure site, so if Joe Blow sends you an e-mail requesting funds and has a Paypal link in the e-mail...don't use it.

Well that's about it, good luck and good shopping