In fact, if you are listed in the phone book, chances are good that you're listed online too. Shopping Purchasing something online is just like purchasing something over the telephone. We give our credit card numbers to people everyday, for instance, cashiers and food-servers. It is actually less likely that this will happen on the Internet because of secure encryption programs running on most online shopping sites. So, only purchase from companies you know are legitimate and check to make sure they are encrypting their transactions.
Most shopping sites post security information for consumers.
Viruses Viruses are malicious programs that can cause a variety of problems on your computer system. We recommend running virus software and keeping it updated. Fortunately, just visiting a Web site will not put you in danger of getting a virus. However, you should scan any files that you download from Web sites with virus software before opening them. If you want to be extra cautious, download them onto a floppy or zip disk and scan them on that.