Shop online -- safely -- this holiday season!

As Tom Barlow wrote earlier today on WalletPop, there are some excellent advantages to shopping online. But even though shopping online has been big for years now, a lot of people are still worried about security, namely identity theft.

Happily, today's Wall Street Journalhas some tips (subscription required) to help you stay safe and secure during your web-aided shopping adventures. The tips are update your security software, determine if the store is legit, avoid crazy good deals, try a temporary card number (talk to your issuer for information on that), and verify your bank's emails.

When you're shopping online, stick with reputable sites that everyone uses: You can buy pretty much anything on Amazon.com these days, and avoid person to person sites.

And ya know those pop-ups that tell you you won a $500 gift certificate to Best Buy? If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is...