Credit Card Number

Question

I am contemplating a secure way to transmit credit card numbers in a form. The users of the form have only Adobe Reader and so I'm thinking
a)  When the form-filler is finished filling the form, s/he clicks Submit or another button
b)  The Submit button then makes the credit card field invisible
c)  The form-sender receives the form and clicks Receive or another button to expose the credit card number field which was concealed in (b).
The problem is that anybody who intercepts the file can also click the Receive button to expose the credit card number.  The form-sender and filler both have only Adobe Reader. There is no Acrobat or policy server in this scenario.  Maybe, I could have them click a particular alphabet in the form title to reveal the credit card number field?  Is there a smarter way to transmit the credit card number?  Thank you.

Answer 1

This is precisely what I would like to do, but cannot use a form with a submit button because my users are using all versions of Reader.  Can you either explain in more detail how I can do this or point me towards resources to learn how?
You said, "The only secure way to do this is to encrypt the form before you send it" - do you mean there is a way for me to encrypt the form before I distribute the blank form or do you mean the user would have to encrypt it before the return a completed form?
You said, "If you are posting it then https will encrypt it while it is in transit."  Post it so the form opens in the browser and/or post the form for download?  I've seen a posted form behave differently depending on what version of reader the browser is using. It's resulted in the submit button not working, which is of course frustrating.
You said, " If you are simply emailing the form around then you coudl use secured email...." - I am not totally naive but what constitutes a secure email?  The recipient address would need to be secure?  How is form protected in the senders sent email bin?
You said, "you can use the encryption facilities within acrobat, but this will require a certificate." Could you say a bit more about how this works?
Thank you!
Brad