A digital certificate is used to encrypt information for secure transmission across the Internet. A digital certificate can be used to create a digital signature for an email, the signature guarantees the identity of sender, and it also ensures that the message cannot be tampered with in transit. A digital certificate can be purchased from a certificate authority such as www.verisign.com who will verify your identity. Digital certificates are used by Internet based shopping Web sites to encrypt your credit card details so they cannot be intercepted as they travel the Internet. You can view the digital certificate for a secure Web site by double clicking on the padlock in the Web Browser address bar, e.g. https://www.paypal.com
• When you are purchasing from a web site there are a range of trust logos that may be displayed and clicking on these should authenticate the site. The Verisign Secured logo is illustrated below