In my case, while an unwanted party gained my account details, no transactions were made. The bank's fraud department were understandably hesitant in releasing details of compromise, but they were very quick in taking action. At this point in time I'm not even sure that offending party was an online merchant, freelance hacker or traditional retailer.

The media in general have fed netizen community paranoia levels regarding online transactions. Yes, credit card numbers are stolen and yes, there are victims who suffer financial loss. But submitting your credit card details online is no different to handing your card to a shop assistant that you don't know or a waiter you have never met before. There is very little stopping merchants we carry out transactions with on a face to face basis from gathering detailed lists of account numbers to be sold off on black market.

The media have also fed xenophobic cold war attitudes of years gone by by focusing on certain countries. Credit card number hackers are "Russian", true. They are also American, Australian and English. Every country in world has a community of identity theives, scammers and spammers.

If you own a credit card and don't carry out online transactions, it doesn't mean you are safe. We need to remember that most of world's information systems are now connected somehow to Internet. All your vital details are now available online; regardless of whether or not you are a Internet user. It's all down to usernames, passwords and IP addresses. If you have ever collected a welfare payment, taken out an insurance policy or registered a vehicle - congratulations! You are now part of World Wide Web, like it or not. You can now emerge from your identity fortress as resistance is futile. That's reality of our modern lives.

So, now after having blown away your misconceptions of your privacy, and your false security of being safe from identity theft, let's deal with reality!

Identity theft and credit card fraud is on increase, such is nature of an online world. How do we as netizens and webmasters protect ourselves and our clients as best as possible? It boils down to a number of simple guidelines.

Passwords - Know that little window that pops up and politely asks you if you want your computer to remember certain user names and passwords? Don't tick it! Most passwords are stored in a special file on a Windows 95/98/ME system and every half baked pimply would-be hacker knows what it is. If you are not using a firewall, it is pretty easy for these people to snatch your password file and then crack it at their leisure using freely available programs.

Password length can also add as extra protection. Those extra few numbers and letters make all difference. Read article:

Safety in numbers and letters http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/safetyinnumbers.htm

Web masters, if you are keeping user information on your web server, ensure it is stored in proper directory with proper permissions. Better still, wherever possible, store minimum client information on your server. Even better, ensure that all sensitive details that your visitors may submit occur over an SSL connect. A web server is equivalent of a 7/11 store - open all hours for valid and non-valid customers. There is NO 100% guaranteed safe system

Firewalls - A personal firewall is now a necessity, not a luxury. The script kiddie problem is increasing. A script kiddie is someone who fancies themselves as a hacker and utilises freely available programs to compromise your system via Internet. Script Kiddies have caused major problems over recent years and have been known to post up credit card numbers for all to see. Why? Bragging rights, a great deal of time. There are over 60 000 points of entry on your PC. You can read more about issue and gain an overview of personal firewalls by reading articles:

Script Kiddies - Vermin of Internet http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/scriptkiddies.htm

Script Kiddies - An advice to parents http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/scriptkiddies2.htm

Script Kiddies 3 - Grill a Kiddie http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/kiddies3.htm

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Who are you? - Before you click submit button for that ezine that you really gotta have; how much information are you having to give away? A name and email address should be all that's needed in most cases. Even if you aren't having to submit credit card numbers, you are still giving away information that enables people to build profiles on you which then make it easier for identity theft to occur. It's amazing how much information you can access just knowing somebody's date of birth. If a service provider is asking you for more than your name and email address; I strongly advise checking them out before submitting.

Over years, I have witnessed a great number of strange things occur on computers. Some incidences are simply PEBCAK problems (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard - user error), hardware failure or, for want of a better term, "system brainfarts" - no identifiable cause.

But other occurrences are more sinister.

I remember one client reporting that her teenage daughter had been in an online chat room that night when suddenly computer's CD-ROM tray began opening and closing of its own volition.

In address bar of Internet Explorer a message was slowly typed out. It read, "You are dead!"

You can imagine effect that this experience had on 14 year old girl in question. This incident was more than likely a Script Kiddie attack, utilising a Trojan that was installed on computer.

So how did this Trojan end up on system? It was brought home from school on a disk, hidden in a program. This may have been deliberate as school in question had a number of Script Kiddies in attendance. I became used to hearing their names mentioned.

Schools, along with Internet, government departments and workplace, are incredible sources of Trojan infestations. The kids constantly swap programs, and in their rush to install them will fail to scan properly. If your virus scanner is configured to be running all time, this isn't such a problem. But for people with low-powered systems, 24/7 virus scanning really slows their computer down.

When out on Internet, kids also have a tendency to reveal a great deal of information about themselves. The Internet is not a play-ground or a baby-sitter. It is a tool, akin to a chainsaw. Like a chainsaw, it can benefit or destroy.

And that brings me to next point. Script Kiddies tend to be teenagers, still living at home. Unfortunately, there are also a number of "adults" who engage in practice (that's all more reason to label them "Script Kiddies"...immature and unthinking).