Be aware that the credit card information you enter on Digikey's site is stored by Internet Explorer's autocomplete feature - completely open. I went to check out on another website and found my credit card number and CCV code a click away.
Anyone using your computer will be able to access your credit card information, including the security code, unless you clear your autocomplete file.
When I complained to Digikey's webmaster, I was told "just turn off autocomplete" When I told them that autocomplete is handy, other sites are able to replace the characters or prevent autocomplete from remembering the entry, and I might take my business elsewhere if I had to mess with my settings to use their site they said they'd look into it. Nothing has changed in the 5 weeks since I complained.
Anyone using your computer will be able to access your credit card information, including the security code, unless you clear your autocomplete file.
When I complained to Digikey's webmaster, I was told "just turn off autocomplete" When I told them that autocomplete is handy, other sites are able to replace the characters or prevent autocomplete from remembering the entry, and I might take my business elsewhere if I had to mess with my settings to use their site they said they'd look into it. Nothing has changed in the 5 weeks since I complained.
I never store passwords for places I spend money, but it's nice not to have to log in to DIYAudio and others.
Yes, the information is on my computer, but there are sites that require entry of card information each time - and the autocomplete list never pops up when entering. I know nothing about html programming, but it seems to be possible to prevent autocomplete recognizing that a field is a field so nothing is stored.
Yes, the information is on my computer, but there are sites that require entry of card information each time - and the autocomplete list never pops up when entering. I know nothing about html programming, but it seems to be possible to prevent autocomplete recognizing that a field is a field so nothing is stored.
Amazon requires that you re-enter your password before going to checkout. Great for those who accidentally checked "remember me." They would love to store your credit card on their servers so you can one click your way to spending, but they let you opt out.
Digikey will let you just proceed to checkout without using your account and you can click on the credit card number box to bring it up. What really got me concerned was going to a site that I had never visited and finding my credit card info available in their form.
The other "feature" of Digikey's site is that it automatically remembers your login unless you manually log out. Simply closing the browser window isn't good enough. All you need to do is click the log in button and you're in if you didn't hit the log out link.
I guess I am going to have to give up autocomplete for forms.
Password protecting your user account in XP is a good idea. It's a pain to wait so long to get to the point that you can enter the password and then wait the same time to get to usable state.
My concern was if my laptop gets stolen. My son knows he'll be in for it if he uses my credit card without permission.
Digikey will let you just proceed to checkout without using your account and you can click on the credit card number box to bring it up. What really got me concerned was going to a site that I had never visited and finding my credit card info available in their form.
The other "feature" of Digikey's site is that it automatically remembers your login unless you manually log out. Simply closing the browser window isn't good enough. All you need to do is click the log in button and you're in if you didn't hit the log out link.
I guess I am going to have to give up autocomplete for forms.
Password protecting your user account in XP is a good idea. It's a pain to wait so long to get to the point that you can enter the password and then wait the same time to get to usable state.
My concern was if my laptop gets stolen. My son knows he'll be in for it if he uses my credit card without permission.
Yep, that laptop is an issue.
There's a program called Winternals ($1200) that can crack into any machine... its for repair pro's... but you know the bad guys have it too.
Best to keep your laptop "dumb" as possible. Keep the wife pictures off of there too!
I never let a computer leave the house here without
the hard drive flat as a pancake... data can be recovered from a reformatted drive... so I'm told anyway.
There's a program called Winternals ($1200) that can crack into any machine... its for repair pro's... but you know the bad guys have it too.
Best to keep your laptop "dumb" as possible. Keep the wife pictures off of there too!
I never let a computer leave the house here without
the hard drive flat as a pancake... data can be recovered from a reformatted drive... so I'm told anyway.Alright, as a computer programmer, and one who also worries about security, lets talk about several items.
First, Bob, I highly recommend you set up accounts on your machine for everyone in your family. I know its a pain in the butt to have to log in to your machine at home, but it really helps keep things separate. My wife complained for a while, but just got used to it, and its nice that she can have the stuff she wants on her desktop, and not have to sift through all of my stuff. Not to mention the security niceties tied in with it.
Next, the auto-complete, there are ways to turn autocomplete on and off, but I don't think they can control that on the server side. I believe it is tied to how they name the individual fields on the page.
If you're really worried about things like digikey not logging you out, and things like that, clean out your IE cache, cookies and the like. Oh, and while I'm on IE, quit using IE as your main browser! If you're truly worried about security that piece of trash should be your fall back web browser, not your main web browser. When websites can do drive-by downloads without you ever seeing a dialog, or even visiting their websites, you need to reduce the amount of use you do with it. Firefox now offers a plugin that allows you to use the IE render engine to render a page, so you should have very little reason to actually fire up that piece of crap.
One last thing to Poobah, it is absolutely possible to recover data from a formatted drive. It only adjusts pointers on the tracks, it doesn't actually null out the tracks themselves, so data recovery is just time consuming on a fromatted drive.
If you want to get REALLY paranoid, think about this, people with the right hardware can pick up the passive radiation from your monitor and see what your seeing from a small distance away! Yes, its not easy, its not great, but its possible. What it all comes down to is taking reasonable precautions when working on the internet. The number one way identities and credit cards are stolen is still the old fashioned way, when you hand it to the person at the store or restraunt.
First, Bob, I highly recommend you set up accounts on your machine for everyone in your family. I know its a pain in the butt to have to log in to your machine at home, but it really helps keep things separate. My wife complained for a while, but just got used to it, and its nice that she can have the stuff she wants on her desktop, and not have to sift through all of my stuff. Not to mention the security niceties tied in with it.
Next, the auto-complete, there are ways to turn autocomplete on and off, but I don't think they can control that on the server side. I believe it is tied to how they name the individual fields on the page.
If you're really worried about things like digikey not logging you out, and things like that, clean out your IE cache, cookies and the like. Oh, and while I'm on IE, quit using IE as your main browser! If you're truly worried about security that piece of trash should be your fall back web browser, not your main web browser. When websites can do drive-by downloads without you ever seeing a dialog, or even visiting their websites, you need to reduce the amount of use you do with it. Firefox now offers a plugin that allows you to use the IE render engine to render a page, so you should have very little reason to actually fire up that piece of crap.
One last thing to Poobah, it is absolutely possible to recover data from a formatted drive. It only adjusts pointers on the tracks, it doesn't actually null out the tracks themselves, so data recovery is just time consuming on a fromatted drive.
If you want to get REALLY paranoid, think about this, people with the right hardware can pick up the passive radiation from your monitor and see what your seeing from a small distance away! Yes, its not easy, its not great, but its possible. What it all comes down to is taking reasonable precautions when working on the internet. The number one way identities and credit cards are stolen is still the old fashioned way, when you hand it to the person at the store or restraunt.
Schaef said:
I think that I posted a pic of a Watkins-Johnson receiver which was on EBay about 1/2 year ago -- just for this specific purpose -- designed to fit in a panel van.
Now we gotta worry about being abducted by aliens driving white Ford panel vans (the New Mexico plates are a tipoff).
jackinnj said:
Are these the same guys selling the "surplus" speakers at rock bottom prices I run into on occasion? (Maybe this is how they lure people in!)
Okay, now we're getting off topic, but the point in my post was that you can only be so paranoid before you start worrying about too much stuff. Just be careful and take common sense precautions.
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