Many online stores may not encrypt the credit cards that you give them and store them in a database that makes them vulnerable to hackers and thus puts you at risk for abuse of your credit card or even worse, identity theft. Our store does encrypt cards and puts you at no risk. Many credit card companies have responded to this risk by allowing you to obtain a temporary credit card that is only good for one time. The great thing about this is that there is no charge. Some cards, like Citibank, even allow you to do this online. I personally use Citibank because they have the best online (for free) banking services. I just love being able to send checks online at no charge and have used them for the last three or four years. I will now start using this service for Web sites from which I purchase items online. So this is a new and free feature that you can use to improve your security of online purchases.
New York Times May 16, 2004