Frankly, I'd rather take my chances online. Crackers aren't really an entirely new threat, they are just muggers who use a computer to do their dirty work, said Mike Muscano, an e-business consultant, and former president of the New York Chamber of Commerce. By and large there's as much of a chance of you becoming a crime victim when you are shopping in the 'real' world as when you are shopping online. Muscano said that while stories about the security holes that exist on the Web are troubling, he believes that online shopping is fundamentally safe and that the increasing number of stories about security problems is directly related to the rise in the numbers of people who are shopping online. If people suddenly discovered malls, there would be an increase in problems there as well.
Crime goes where the action is.
Still, the perception that crackers are lying in wait for each and every innocent shopper who ventures onto an e-commerce site is growing. In a recent Harris Interactive survey, nearly 6 in 10 respondents said they were afraid their credit card number would be stolen if they shopped online, so they avoid shopping in Web stores. Muscano believes that e-commerce merchants must contest such attitudes by making a concerted effort to publicize the safety of Internet commerce. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that data is the currency of the Internet. You must protect it the same way as you'd protect your cash register.