Today’s customers demand flexible payments based on their preferences. As a business, offering payment options to meet these expectations is essential. They say that while dividends are a caring concern, with the ease of online payments comes the risk of security breaches. Adopting best practices is essential to ensuring secure online payments, protecting your business, and maintaining customer trust.
Your company must fulfil its responsibilities to customers to stay in business, as well as financial regulators and stakeholders. This requires careful payment risk management, which can often be automated with a payment plan based on your business needs. Here’s why a secure payment process is important, and why BillBlend supports this concept:
Protect sensitive data
Internet transactions are vulnerable to data breaches, and hackers steal customer information from insecure systems. Do not forget to protect this data, which is highly sensitive, from being used for fraudulent activities.
Prevent fraud
Merchants face fraud threats every day, including money laundering and identity theft, which is quite a lot already. Secure payment processing includes fraud detection techniques that analyse networks, monitor suspicious activity, and use machine learning algorithms to identify and block fraudulent transactions in real time.
Reduce Chargebacks
Response payments occur when customers dispute a transaction and request a refund from their bank or collection agency. They are very dangerous online and in any type of communication. Secure payment processing helps reduce the cost of fraud by verifying the cardholder’s identity, saving businesses money and refunds
Confident global growth
E-commerce payment processing enables businesses to reach a global audience. Different regions have varying security standards and regulations. Implementing secure payment methods ensures businesses can cater to international customers without compromising security.
Protect your reputation
Data breaches can severely damage a business’s reputation and disappoint customers. News of a security breach spreads quickly, leading to consumer distrust and negative publicity. A secure payment process helps protect your brand and build customer trust.
More secure online payment methods
There are many ways businesses can accept online payments, but security standards vary. The most secure methods use multiple layers of trust and advanced security measures to protect sensitive data.
Payment cards
Card payments are widely used and have strict security measures. Businesses involved in the processing of card data must comply with PCI DSS, which mandates secure system maintenance, encryption, access management, and regular system testing to reduce the risk of fraud Multifactor authentication further protects card payments by verifying the identity of the cardholder with biometrics, OTP and security tokens.
Digital wallet
Digital wallets store card information and allow payments to be made through smart devices. They are popular thanks to their convenience and safety. Digital wallets connected to specific devices need a PIN, password or biometrics to unlock them. Multifactor authentication and tokenization are used to secure transactions and ensure that sensitive card information is not disclosed to fraudsters.
Bank remittances
Online banking between reputable financial institutions is generally secure. Banks require multifactor authentication and advanced fraud detection to prevent unauthorized access. However, risks include human error and delayed payments. Companies need to ensure that the bank transfer process is secure – that is an essential part.
10 best secure online payment methods
1. Understand PCI compliance requirements
If your business handles card data, comply with PCI DSS. The easiest way to stay compliant is to avoid handling card data directly. Use integration techniques like Frames or Mobile SDKs to secure transactions without accessing card data. Checkout.com is certified as a Level 1 Service Provider for PCI DSS, ensuring that credit card data is processed, stored and transmitted securely.
2. Encrypt the Data with TLS
TLS encryption is critical for secure online payments. It protects sensitive information such as credit card numbers during transmission. A valid SSL certificate and the latest TLS protocol (at least TLS 1.2) are required to establish a secure connection. TLS encryption secures the communication between a client’s browser and your website server, ensuring secure transmission of sensitive information.
3. Use 3D Secure 2
3D Secure 2 (3DS2) adds an authentication layer for online card transactions, using one-time passwords or biometric data. This ensures that the buyer is a valid cardholder and reduces fraud. The protocol provides a frictionless experience for subsequent transactions with the same merchant, helping to reduce false attrition. The main advantage of 3DS2 is that it provides a seamless user experience for future transactions within the same merchant, allowing the user to self-authenticate for future transactions without having to repeat the action.
4. Multiple or dual convictions
Multifactor authentication (MFA) and two-factor authentication (2FA) provide greater security than passwords. 2FA requires two types of authentication, namely a password and an OTP. MFA requires three or more features, such as password, fingerprint scan, and OTP, to be impermissible. The more factors used, the higher the security level, as it becomes challenging for fraudsters to compromise all required elements.
5. Requiring Card Verification Value (CVV).
For online transactions, the Card Verification Value (CVV) is a security feature that helps verify the identity of the cardholder. Merchants ask for a CVV at checkout to ensure the authenticity of the transaction. The CVV, typically the three digits on the back of most Visa, Mastercard, and Discover credit cards, or the four letters on the front of American Express cards, adds an extra layer of security
6. Implement Payment Tokenization
Payment tokenization replaces sensitive payment information such as credit card numbers with a unique token. This token allows transactions to be processed without sensitive data being transmitted or stored. Network tokens, issued by the card system, further reduce fraud by using tokens in the payment channel instead of sensitive card data Tokenization increases security, reduces compliance costs, improves customer experience and provides greater flexibility in data storage.
7. Make sure your website platform is secure
Several steps can help secure your website, CMS, and online payments:
Update software and plugins: Regularly update your website and CMS software, as well as any plugins, to fix security vulnerabilities.
Require a Strong Password: Make sure customers use a strong password to access their accounts, increasing security.
Use a firewall: Protect your website and CMS from unauthorized users and block suspicious traffic.
Use TLS: Use TLS to encrypt data transmitted between your website and visitors while protecting your personal financial information.
Use a CDN: A content delivery network (CDN) can protect against DDoS attacks by distributing traffic across multiple servers.
Monitor suspicious activity: Use monitoring tools to detect and respond to suspicious activity such as unusual traffic patterns or intrusion attempts.
8. Use fraud detection tools
Fraud detection tools are software or programs that identify and prevent fraudulent activity. These include:
Rule-based systems: Use predefined rules and algorithms to flag potentially fraudulent transactions.
Behavioural Analysis: Analyse the behaviours used to identify fraudulent schemes.
Machine Learning: Use AI to learn from historical data and identify fraudulent patterns.
Biometric authentication: Authenticate users using biometric data such as facial recognition or fingerprints.
These tools help ensure compliance with AML transaction management regulations by providing an automated monitoring system and routing suspicious transactions for inspection.
9. Train your employees
Employee training on secure online payment methods is critical:
Provide regular training: Train employees on online payment security, fraud prevention, and handling sensitive customer information.
Implement policies and procedures: Create and implement a secure online payment system.
Emphasize the importance of security: Ensure employees understand the importance of secure online payments and the consequences of not following the process.
Educate fraud risks: Inform employees about fraud and types of fraud, and how to recognize and respond to them.
Encourage Reporting: Employees should immediately report suspicious activity or possible security breaches.
Conduct security audits: Perform regular security audits to identify vulnerabilities and ensure compliance.
Report new threats: Inform employees of emerging threats and security vulnerabilities.
Use technology: Encryption, firewalls, and antivirus software to protect online communications.
10. Choose a qualified secure online payment provider
Reducing the number of people in your company’s payment lifecycle increases security. Choose an end-to-end payment solution that integrates acquirer, gateway, and processor functions. This simplifies the payment process, reduces data exposure, and integrates fraud detection, 3DS authentication and advanced tokenisation.
BillBlend knows how to process payments and will help you choose the right option. A secure payment system isn’t just about compliance, it’s about building trust and providing a seamless, secure customer experience.
