The Internet has become a global marketplace for goods and services. For e-commerce to prosper, shoppers must feel safe when transmitting credit card and other financial information. Because data traveling over the network passes through many computers along the way, the opportunity exists for someone to intercept confidential information. Hackers also break into computers to steal stored data, though no one really knows how often this actually happens.
How might this affect you? Let's say you want to buy merchandise from an online store. If you provide your credit card number, how do you know it will travel safely from your computer to its final destination? With the tremendous potential for doing business online, there's a lot of time and money being spent trying to make data protection secure.
How it works
Data is secured with a technology called encryption. Encryption software scrambles the data with a secret code so that no one can make sense of it while it's being transmitted. When the data reaches its destination, the same software unscrambles the information. When you see a small lock icon at the bottom of your web browser or next to the address bar, it indicates that your data is encrypted during transmission.
Hackers thrive on outsmarting computer security system some regard breaking into computers as a harmless hobby. Should you worry about this? If you access the Internet through a dial-up account, the chances of someone breaking into your computer are slim. If you use a broadband or wireless Internet connection, sensitive data can be intercepted during transmission.
The real targets of most hackers, however, are corporate and government computers systems. They protect their systems by erecting a firewall, an extra layer of software security placed between their internal computers and the Internet. These days, almost all personal computers also have firewalls. For instance, Windows XP and Vista operating systems have them built in. If your computer doesn't have a firewall, we recommend installing one immediately.
