As the number of people sending electronic greeting cards or e-cards increase every year, companies offering e-cards too have multiplied drastically. Surveys indicate that the maximum number of e-cards is sent on birthdays, Valentine’s Day, or during festive seasons such as Diwali or Christmas.

Online businesses have, therefore, come up with a creative array of traditional and special animated cards.

Are e-cards safe?

Many e-card providers offer to keep your e-card private so that only you or the recipient can access it. However, this does not mean that your e-card is safe from prying eyes since quite a few e-card providers use outdated security tools or methods.

So, instead of trying to determine which provider uses the best security option, it is a better idea to always assume your e-card can be seen by anyone. Keeping that in mind, follow these guidelines:

• Avoid adding any personal information to the e-card, which may include your full name, home address, phone number, e-mail address or credit card information.
  
  For example: Avoid information such as Renuka Shankar; 10, St. Agnel Street, Bangalore; renukashankar@___.co.in

• Be careful of how you caption the photos added to your e-cards.
  
  For example: If captions of your Birthday photos read “Earthlings in a Wild Party”; “Mysterious Crowd”; “Sexy Night”; “Playing in the Dark”; “After Hours”, you are asking for trouble.

• Be cautious of the information you add to the e-card.
  
  For example: If you add your pet name Paploo, Bunty, or Toto, chances are you have just given away your password. Remember that many online organizations use maiden names and pet names as a method of reminding people of their forgotten passwords. If you put this information in a greeting card, it could be found by online predators and used to gain access to your online accounts.

• Make sure the e-card provider allows you or the recipient to delete the e-card when it's no longer needed. Or find out if the business deletes the e-card on a specified date or after a certain period of time.
  
  Tip: If you want to save the e-card as a keepsake, you can either print it or save it on to your computer.

• While writing personalized messages in your e-card, do not include information that you do not want others to know of.