Q. When shopping online, you’re providing a lot of personal information. Does that increase the risk of vulnerability to identity theft?
A. At most major reputable retailers, it shouldn’t significantly increase the risk. They have adequate controls in place to encrypt that information. But that’s all assuming you’re not communicating this over unencrypted public Wi-Fi channels. That can increase the risk of bad actors intercepting some of that information wirelessly.
But a lot of the major retailers really do a pretty good job of processing those transactions. The one thing that does occasionally add to your risk profile is when you save and store your credit card information with major retailers. The reason that would potentially increase the risk profile is not that someone could be intercepting that transaction and stealing your identity and credit card information, but if there’s a breach at that company. So, Walmart or Amazon, if they suffer a data breach in some other capacity, then having your credit card information on file obviously increases the risk that a malicious actor could gain access to that information.
One thing you can do to better your digital hygiene practices is just to not save credit card information with retailers. It’s a bit of a pain to type it in every time, but that certainly can be one way of reducing your risk overall.
Q. You mention the major retailers being secure with customer information, but…
