Site security.

Credit card security is a issue for everyone involved in ecommerce but the facts are not always given in a way to highlight the supposed risks. The credit cards companies and banks marketing departments are good at extolling the virtues of their security, unfortunately they are less good at co-operating with each other, us and the authorities, hence extenuating the problem.

There are a lots of scares going around often propagated by poeple trying to sell you some security solution who paint the darkest picture possible, not a true reflection of the problem.

The biggest risk that we all face is someone getting your credit card number and using it to their advantage. Use of such a credit card can be on the internet, often referred to as "internet fraud". This does not mean that the credit card number was gained from the internet. We are aware that a big risk to your credit card number is mail order and big retail outlets were there are potentially a large number of staff, some temporary, who could have access to your details. Don't forget about your credit card slips, they have part card number etc, if you lose it who knows where it could end up.

We are obliged to send you an invoice and the credit card slip, the credit card number is partailly obscured so if the parcel gets lost or is delayed on route no-one has easy access to the details. Invoices etc are packed inside the box/s not attached to the outside.

We all hear about high profile cases where details are disclosed on websites, there is no excuse for it. Whilst we will not disclose the exact security measure we have in place they exceed what our bankers require. This website is produced totally in house and we have our own dedicated webserver which serves only ours and a few linked sites, the security is defined by us and isn't compromised by the requirements of others. Your card details are never stored on the webserver / internet and the only people who have access to them are the office staff involved in processing them, no-one else.

There is no known instance of details being intercepted during transmission anywhere worldwide. If you think about the number of "packets" of information that are flying around at light speed even if you knew which ones had the details, and you could get them, then you would have to crack multi level encryption.

Some people seem to think that just sending your name and address is a risk !!, are you in the phone book ? do people in the phone book not have credit cards ?. Name and address lists can be obtained from many datebase / mail order marketing companies, electoral registers (which can be checked online) and probably your trash. If someone has your name and address they then need the card number, security code and expiry date, then they need someone to ship goods out to an address other than yours, a process not likely to start from a name and address.

You can order from us knowing that your details are and will be kept safe.

Rob
Partner, Sales & Purchasing.