making purshases from your phone

[challenger]

I have a Droid and want to buy things online but I'm not sure how safe it is. If the phone is lost or stolen can my info get picked out?

[JDay]

Only if you save your credit card info on the phone. The browser does not cache SSL encrypted pages (required for online purchases).

[8 pack]

Its not the phone being lost or stolen that I would worry about, its the fact that you are broadcasting your CC/bank account info OTA that I would worry about. True it is encrypted but once you give up the physical layer it is only a matter of time, not to mention any unknown security exploits in the apps you are using. Unless it is an absolute necessity I would stick to a wired computer at your house.

[JDay]

Its not the phone being lost or stolen that I would worry about, its the fact that you are broadcasting your CC/bank account info OTA that I would worry about. True it is encrypted but once you give up the physical layer it is only a matter of time, not to mention any unknown security exploits in the apps you are using. Unless it is an absolute necessity I would stick to a wired computer at your house.

Both ways still use the same internet. Using your phones internet to make a purchase is not going to be any less secure that using your computer, in fact doing it with the phone may be more secure since you don't have to worry about malware logging your keystrokes.

[8 pack]

Are you saying traffic broadcast over the air is as secure as a wired connection on a trusted network?

[samuraishot]

I was a liitle worried about it too, but found it's just the same as using a computer and much more convenient as well. Especially if you've got your eye on something on eBay, but far from your computer. In fact I just purchased some stuff from both eBay and amazon and one arrived yesterday and the other later today.

[samuraishot]

Oh and even if you may lose your phone, the person who has it still needs all your info or passwords, etc. Just be sure none of that is saved anywhere on your phone.

[Merc1138]

Are you saying traffic broadcast over the air is as secure as a wired connection on a trusted network?

You mean the encrypted traffic broadcast over the air, compared to the encrypted traffic you send across the internet? Yes, it is. It's the same encryption, and it's actually easier to mess with someone's computer on a "trusted network"(packet sniffing, or simply attacking a computer one way or another).

I know that Bob who lives at 1234 Main St with an IP of 123.123.123.45 is going to be there, I'll know when he's online at his home, possibly what computer he's on, his ISP, etc.

Now if Bob uses his cellphone, I don't know what tower he's connected to, I don't really have a way to see what his IP address is, which can change very often when going back and forth between cellphone towers, I don't know which traffic over the air is Bob's, and I don't know if he's doing it from home, work, or the grocery store.

Additionally, once that over the air traffic hits the cellphone tower, it gets routed across the same internet.