10 Best Practices to ensure SECURE Online Payment Processing

Digital space is becoming vulnerable day by day and online fraudsters are devising new schemes to breach a substantially secure network. In spite of the best efforts, data theft is growing at an alarming rate.  

With an increasing preference for digital transactions, online shoppers need a secure digital ecosystem to transact easily and safely.  

To ensure a frictionless buying experience for every shopper and to maintain a high level of security, it is prudent to adhere to a few best practices while conducting digital transactions. 

Let’s see the best security practices that merchants can follow to ensure that sensitive card data is stored safely whenever payments are made via online modes or through cards. 

Deploying a three-pronged strategy- Fraud Detection & Elimination, Security, and Compliance- is vital to ensure cyber hygiene. 

Top 10 Practices to ensure Secure Online Transactions 

Matching IP and Billing address  

A merchant can parry a potentially fraudulent activity by verifying the details furnished during a transaction. Address Verification Service or AVS is a technology to compare the IP address of a particular buyer with the billing address of the credit card used. This can assure that the cardholder and customer are one and the same. 

Data Encryption 

SSL or Secure Sockets Layer and TLS or Transport Layer Security are two protocols that can encrypt data when it is being used digitally. A transaction protected by SSL protocol will make sure that all sensitive data is encrypted and will be accessible only by the intended person. 

Issuing Payment Token  

Tokenization is a technology that is widely being used by various businesses to ensure greater card security. Instead of sharing sensitive card data, a unique token is created and that is passed around in payment networks. 

Stronger Passwords 

To use any website or an application, a user must log in using a password. Unethical hackers and cybercriminals can easily find passwords with different combinations of names, birthdays, etc. Hence, ensuring a customer account is safely secured with a strong password is imperative.  

3D Security 

Another very common technique used to ensure safe online transactions is 3D Secure authentication. It protects e-commerce merchants against chargebacks by preventing any unwanted usage of cards. It is mandatory that all merchants comply with strong customer authentication and 3D secure transactions ensure this. 

CVV Authentication 

CVV or Card Verification Value is used to validate a non-card transaction. In the case of card theft, requesting to furnish CVV, data that is only on the card can ensure that merchants can validate digital payments. 

Stronger Customer Authentication 

Strong Customer Authentication or SCA is another means to ensure greater digital payment security. It could be a password that a user has created or any other unique identification data like fingerprints or voice recognition. 

Continuous Fraud Monitoring 

A compliant Payment Gateway must ensure that all onboarded merchants are protected against fraud. Continuous monitoring of fraudulent activity is mandatory. This helps merchants to limit or reject high-risk transactions or even request a manual, in-person approval. 

PCI Compliance 

Merchants and businesses that process and store sensitive credit card data are required to be PCI compliant. The repercussions of a non-compliant business in the instance of a data breach can be detrimental and long-standing, not to mention the reputational damage.  

Trained staff 

It will be greatly beneficial to have a risk management and fraud detection team in every business enterprise. A team dedicated to fraud detection and management can be a great asset to any organization. Knowledgeable professionals with hands-on experience handling cyber fraud and risk management can thwart any unwanted chargebacks and data breaches. 

Ecommerce is surging, digital payments are increasing at a remarkable rate. With digital payments, merchants can now onboard customers from all over the world. But ensuring greater cyber security and cyber hygiene is extremely important.

Let’s all be informed about the concomitant threats in digital space and try our best to make the digital space as secure as possible!