Online Shopping, Banking at Risk From Increased Hacking
The Washington Times reports the technology that makes online shopping and banking secure is under increasing assault by hackers, criminal gangs and spy agencies, threatening the $680 billion-a-year global e-commerce market. Security specialists warn that consumers soon may no longer be able to trust the padlock icon in browsers, known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), that signals a secure Internet connection, meaning they would no longer be able to shop or bank online with confidence. SSL relies on special electronic certificates issued to a secure website, but each kind of Web browser validates certificates in a different way.
