Page 9: Website security

We have covered the essential parts of a web page and its navigation. There are other things you need to be aware of that may appear on a web site.

'Secure' web site.

E-Commerce and financial web sites such as online shops and banks will ask you for confidential or valuable information such as

• User name
• Password
• Your name
• Address
• Credit card number

This information must be protected to stop anyone else finding out what it is. Secure web sites use encryption to scramble this infomation right from the point where you are typing it into your browser all the way to the server itself.

Anyone who does not have the secret keys that your browser and server are sharing during the connection, will not be able to read the information being sent back and forth.

Encrypted text looks like this: rrRhthuHIH(**(_II_*(*HJKJKJKHU*(0hjoi8s90d9s

You can tell that the site is secure by two things:

1. Secure sites begin with an URL of https not http

2. Secure sites have have a small padlock symbol that appears on the status bar at the bottom of you browser.

If you double click on the padlock a 'digital certificate' appears that confirms you are connected to the real site.

'Email Links"

Many web sites provide a hyperlink that opens up your email application. Some even load the subject line for you. Email links are often seen as small envelope symbols of some kind. The status bar may show an URL starting with mailto: