The Security Mentor

How safe is your credit card information in the hands of all the companies you buy things from?

The government doesn't have much in the way of regulation. Some states such as California require merchants to warn you if a crook steals your credit card information from them. Since that law passed there have been a lot of published warnings.

The credit card industry is trying self-regulation. They've issued standards for merchants to follow. My personal opinion is that the standards were put together by a committee on which some people were much better than others. Near as I can tell, most merchants aren't complying yet.

Well, I wouldn't be much use to you if I didn't recommend some useful action you could take.

You could try asking the people you do business with whether they comply with "PCI/DSS". I'll save you the trouble: the response will be a blank stare and a "Huhh?".

The best you can do is check your credit card balance online (don't wait for the monthly statement) and report anomalies fast.