When you use your credit card to buy goods or make reservations over the Internet, you have the same concerns as you would when using your credit card over the telephone:i

• Is the business I am dealing with a reputable company?
• Could someone else obtain my credit card details and use my credit card number?

Every day you use your credit card in shops and restaurants and give it to cashiers and waiters, you also use it frequently to book tickets or to pay for items over the phone. Using your credit card number on the Internet is no more dangerous than the any of the above situations. In fact, it is often more secure to give out your account number over the Internet, because many sites work with your browser software to encode your transaction so if outside parties intercept it, they won't be able to read it.

Backpackertours.com recommends that you keep up to date with the latest browsers to ensure maximum security for your online transactions.

How Encryption Works: There are two levels of encryption: 40-bit and 128-bit. With 40-bit encryption, there are billions of possible keys to decipher the coded information, and only one of them works. Someone intercepting the information would have to find the right key - a nearly impossible task. With 128-bit encryption, there are 300 billion trillion times as many keys as with 40-bit encryption. It is virtually impossible for an unauthorized party to find the right key, even if they are equipped with the best computers.

To Check Our Site's Security Status: When you click to confirm your booking on the confirmation page displaying your chosen accommodation you will be transferred to our secure server. Look at the site's URL in your browser window. You will see an "s" added to the familiar "http" (to make "https"), this indicates that SSL is in effect for the current page. You will be brought to a page displaying the following: https://secure.hostelworld.com/enterdetails.php In Netscape Navigator 3.0 and earlier, the broken key symbol in the lower-left corner of your browser window becomes solid when you are in secure mode. In Netscape Communicator 4.0 and 4.5, the padlock symbol in the corner, usually open, is closed in secure mode. In Internet Explorer 5.0, a closed padlock appears when you are in secure mode. If you're about to send information to a site that's not using SSL, your browser will warn you first. SSL protects your communications during transmission. Because of the authentication involved, secure servers are slower than the regular server for delivering files. Therefore SSL is only used when transmitting sensitive information across the web.