After the announcement that the UK government had “lost” 25 million records containng the private details of many of the UK population, many people are starting to ask if online payment systems are safe? Can they be trusted? Are they more risky than traditional offline payment methods?

The truth is that where information is stored, and particularly information of a confidential nature, there will always be risks. However the risks associated with online payments are no different to those associated with offline payments - with many actually claiming they are safer. While there have been a number of online scares, whereby records have gone missing or information has been hacked – in general the online payment system has a good track record – with the main risk seemingly coming from retailers letting the security side down.

The bottom line is that fraud has been around since the year dot and while billions of pounds is invested into new and more secure systems, no system is ever 100% secure – anyone who tells you this is not being truthful! The security side of the internet has developed over the last decade or so, and it is actually more secure than the vast array of offline systems, with no chance of credit card cloning, no theft and a full audit trail available so that you can see in an instant where your funds have gone to.

So in summary there is no greater risk paying online than there is offline, and while the recent announcement of lost data, etc is shocking, it does not have any real bearing on the various payment systems available. The fact that some companies and government departments hold millions of records will always be a security risk, and while the headlines today are dramatic and worrying, they do not really reflect the overall position on the ground.