Wal-Mart uses very stringent privacy and security policies to protect not only the corporation but their entire consumer base as well. The privacy policy they have adopted serves both their in-store locations as well as online shopping. Information is collected in many ways from Wal-Mart and is used by them for a variety of different methods. Most information complied is used for marketing purposes, e-mail, direct mailings, and on occasion by use of Wal-Mart’s affiliates and suppliers, however no phone calls can be made to anyone who is on that list or have their information sold to a third party for marketing purposes. Wal-Mart also allows consumers to choose if they want their information shared or to keep it confidential. The corporation’s privacy policy also states that Wal-Mart holds themselves directly responsible for the protection of all of the information they obtain and use and accountable for any leak of clients information.
As far as security, Wal-Mart protects their online customers with a variety or programs to protect customer’s information. Secure Sockets Layer is an application used to protect customers sensitive information while in transport over the internet, it is used when customers enter their user name’s, passwords, and social security numbers from when the information is being sent from the computer to Wal-Mart’s database. Another tools used by Wal-Mart is VeriSign. VeriSign is an Internet security certificate that encrypts personal and sensitive information through the server so that it cannot be obtained by any unauthorized user. Wal-Mart also keeps all of their customer information at a secure location in their headquarters, all written information is kept under lock and key, and electronic information is protected by encryption on servers. Wal-Mart destroys the information on a periodic basis by erasing the memory, shredding files, and making others illegible to read.
