Security Corner - One Time Use Credit Card Numbers
Category Security Corner
Credit cards are what make online shopping a breeze. Enter the numbers on your card and within minutes you're done. The ease of credit card transactions has also attracted thieves and even if you are extremely careful (deleting your browsing history, only using secure sites etc.) you can still be a victim of theft. In august a hacker in Florida broke into a credit card processing center and stole millions of credit card numbers. The charges made were sometimes for as little as 2 dollars.
Several card issuers and PayPal have designed secure ways to avoid this problem completely with one time use credit card numbers. How it works: you go to the website of the card provider or PayPal and it will generate a one time use credit card, specific to that transaction. On Bank of America's version you can set an expiration date and spending limit. If a thief tries to use the card again it won't work. Citibank and Discover also offer this service as well for their credit cards. None of these services support debit cards.
PayPal has made it very easy by creating a browser plug-in for Firefox and for Internet Explorer. It will allow you to automatically generate credit card numbers while browsing. Once it is made you can simply plug them in and make a purchase.
Credit cards are what make online shopping a breeze. Enter the numbers on your card and within minutes you're done. The ease of credit card transactions has also attracted thieves and even if you are extremely careful (deleting your browsing history, only using secure sites etc.) you can still be a victim of theft. In august a hacker in Florida broke into a credit card processing center and stole millions of credit card numbers. The charges made were sometimes for as little as 2 dollars.
Several card issuers and PayPal have designed secure ways to avoid this problem completely with one time use credit card numbers. How it works: you go to the website of the card provider or PayPal and it will generate a one time use credit card, specific to that transaction. On Bank of America's version you can set an expiration date and spending limit. If a thief tries to use the card again it won't work. Citibank and Discover also offer this service as well for their credit cards. None of these services support debit cards.
PayPal has made it very easy by creating a browser plug-in for Firefox and for Internet Explorer. It will allow you to automatically generate credit card numbers while browsing. Once it is made you can simply plug them in and make a purchase.
