Consumers are gearing up for another strong online holiday shopping season, but they continue to express concern about the security aspects of buying via the Web, according to a survey commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

The BSA said the survey, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs with 4,000 consumers in four countries, found that more than 63 percent of consumers in the United States will do at least some Internet shopping this holiday season.

Still, about three-fourths of all U.S. shoppers surveyed said they are concerned either a "great deal" or a "fair amount" about a host of security issues. For instance, 83 percent said they are worried about having their information stolen by a third party during a transaction, 79 percent expressed concern that their private data could be pilfered from a Web-connected database, and 76 percent worried about disclosing their credit-card number at all.

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