LOOK FOR SECURE DATA ENCRYPTION
A website requiring sensitive data such as credit card numbers should use an encrypted connection, which scrambles information during transmission so it’s useless to hackers. More websites than ever are using these encrypted connections — Google says it’s seen a 70 percent rise in server requests from encrypted connections in the past couple of years — but not everyone’s aboard. The easiest way to check for an encrypted connection: Look at a site’s URL in your browser’s address bar. If it begins with “https” instead of “http,” that’s good. A closed padlock is also a good sign.