Identifying secure/trusted Web sites

You are much safer online if you deal only with sites you trust.

There are several things you can look for to help you identify trusted Web sites.

Check before you click. Use a tool that lets you know before you click a Web site if it is likely to download malware or spam. Such tools place a rating next to sites returned in a search to indicate how safe they are to visit.

Look for the site’s privacy policy. These should answer your questions about how they treat personal information, how your information will be used, whether third parties will have access to your information, assurances about the accuracy of the information on their Web site, their level of security, and so on. If you can’t easily find the site’s privacy policy GO ELSEWHERE.

Click for more about identifying safe sites when shopping online.