An IT expert has suggested that online shoppers' credit card details are far safer than many people think.
Using a credit card to buy goods online poses far less of a security risk than other internet services, according to an industry expert.
Ken Munro, director of penetration testing at NCC Group, was responding to an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report which found that many internet users refuse to use online retail because of security fears. The OFT figures follow a number of similar reports suggesting that many consumers are still wary of providing their financial details to a website.
However, Mr Munro told computerweekly.com that other areas of the internet pose a much larger threat than online retail. "Internet users are far more likely to have personal information stolen using social networking and other sites than having their credit card details compromised through shopping online," he explained.
Mr Munro claimed that internet shopping is now far safer thanks to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). These standards provide a set of regulations which stipulate how credit card details should be handled.
However, PCI DSS have come in for criticism in the past. In the USA last month, a retailers group told the house of representatives that the standards are used to transfer risk away from credit card providers and banks and onto others.
