Question

A user is connecting to an e-commerce server to buy some widgets for a company. the user connects to the site and notices there is no lock in the browser security status bar. the site does prompt for a username and password and the user is able to log in. what is the danger in proceeding with this transaction?

Answer 1

Lock symbol on the browser symbolises that the user is accessing the site in a secure mode. The website address will commence with a ’https://’ rather than ‘http://’.
Secure site shall be displayed in green colour.

Below are the risks to be faced while accessing an unsecure site that do not have a lock symbol on the browser:

• Without user’s knowledge, his credentials like username and password shall be noted by the hacker and user’s account shall be misused for any fraudulent activities like money theft from online banking.
• Trojan, worms and other malicious viruses can attack the computer system and damage the entire data.
• Hacker shall eavesdrop into the user’s unencrypted personal information.
• User shall be entrapped in a phishing scam.