Storing Credit Card Information Online or in Password Managers? How to Keep Your Information Safe
Whenever Internet users make purchases online using credit cards, the online shopping sites or payment providers suggest to save the card information.
For the user, it is a convenience feature, as future purchases do not require typing the full credit card number and other requested data anymore. For sites, it also binds the customer, which means that they are more likely to use their services in the future. Information about Internet users is also of importance to many companies.
But the shopping sites and payment providers are not the only ones that may suggest to save the credit card information. The web browser or a password manager may also recommend that. It depends on whether the feature is supported in the browser, the password managers integration and functionality.
At least some Internet users may wonder whether it is a good idea to store credit card information in a password manager, browser or online.
The case for saving credit card information
The main argument for saving credit card numbers and data is convenience. Users do not have to have their credit cards with them to make purchases, once the number is saved. While some sites may request the three digit security code as verification, it is still more convenient than before.
Password managers and browsers encrypt the data and may support additional security features, such as two-factor authentication, to protect the data. These may be favorable over physical use of a credit card in some situations.
The case against saving Credit Card numbers
One strong argument against saving credit card information online, in browsers or in password managers, is that these add another attack vector. Sites may get hacked, and depending on how the information is saved, it may fall into the hands of malicious actors.
Password managers too are not offering 100% security. Last year's LastPass hack showed that high security sites may get hacked, sometimes using indirect ways, and that important user data may fall into the hands of criminals.
Browsers share the issue with online password managers, especially if they sync data to the cloud. Even local password managers are affected, even though it may be less exploitable because data is not stored online.
Apart from security concerns, there are additional reasons for skipping the "save card online" prompts when they are encountered.
The first is often found when companies offer trials of applications or services. Users who sign-up for a free trial may need to provide credit card information before the trial starts. The main issue here is that companies will charge the card automatically, if the user does not end the trial actively. Some may like the service, but some may forget about it and subscribe for a month, year or even longer to a service that they do not want to use.
Sometimes, users may pick different payment options to have better control over the processing of payments.
A second reason is that saved payment information paves the way for impulse purchases. A study in the United States from 2019 suggests that 83% of U.S. adults have already made impulse purchases.
Lastly, a case can also be made that someone with access to the computer, smartphone or tablet may make purchases using the stored payment information.
Closing Words
It is recommended to avoid saving payment information only. Even though that makes purchases online a tad less convenient, it is improving security, reducing the likelihood of erroneous payments and impulse purchases.
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.
When will you put an end to the mess in the comments?
Ghacks comments have been broken for too long. What article did you see this comment on? Reply below. If we get to 20 different articles we should all stop using the site in protest.
I posted this on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/] so please reply if you see it on a different article.
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Article Title: Reddit enforces user activity tracking on site to push advertising revenue
Article URL: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
No surprises here. This is just the beginning really. I cannot see a valid reason as to why anyone would continue to use the platform anymore when there are enough alternatives fill that void.
I’m not sure if there is a point in commenting given that comments seem to appear under random posts now, but I’ll try… this comment is for https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
My temporary “solution”, if you can call it that, is to use a VPN (Mullvad in my case) to sign up for and access Reddit via a European connection. I’m doing that with pretty much everything now, at least until the rest of the world catches up with GDPR. I don’t think GDPR is a magical privacy solution but it’s at least a first step.