With fraudsters on the alert using vulnerabilities to steal user data, merchants need to enable secure payment processes to protect their customers and businesses. It’s a delicate balance – allowing shoppers the convenience of using their preferred payment methods while also ensuring protection measures are in place.
To achieve an efficient and secure checkout experience, merchants must implement best practices to mitigate potential online fraud when accepting credit cards and alternative payments.
What are the best practices for secure online payment processing?
Any business should understand the security requirements for using online payment services. Compliance with security requirements is a mandatory parameter for the normal operation of a business. The following tips will help you meet all the requirements while ensuring sufficient comfort when making payments.
1. Use a 2FA
In today’s connected world where your identity is easily vulnerable to theft and misuse, it is essential to take precautions to protect yourself from unauthorized access to your accounts. Fortunately, there is a way to protect yourself from cyber hackers; every method is two-factor authentication. This authentication process adds an additional layer of protection for logging into your various online accounts like social media or emails.
With two-factor authentication, every single login you make will be secured with an extra code or acknowledgment needing authorization from you. In addition, you will also be notified immediately if your account is being accessed by a device you’re not familiar with, making it almost impossible for anyone else but you to gain access to the platform.
2. Use a VPN
If you use VPN software, both parties will receive additional end-to-end data encryption. This means that stealing banking data becomes pointless. For this task, you need fast and secure VPNs for PC like VeePN. With its assistance, businesses of all sizes and regular users can protect themselves from hacking and most hacker attacks. Moreover, you can download VPN for your PC for free in trial mode. This is one of the most reliable ways to improve payment security.
3. SSL protocol
Many customers are uncomfortable with unsafe online payment methods, so having an SSL protocol is essential for businesses that sell their wares online. SSL stands for secure sockets layer, a type of internet security encryption protocol that ensures the safe transmission of sensitive information from the customer’s device to the business’s server.
Websites with an SSL certificate can be easily identified by their URL starting with https, or by the padlock icon next to it. To provide customers peace of mind when they shop on your website, ensure your site has an SSL protocol through a dedicated hosting plan or other safe online payment methods, such as using Cloudflare’s free service and purchasing an SSL certificate. Doing this allows you to take payments safely and offer customers safe online shopping experiences.
4. AVS
Address verification service is a great way to ensure secure online payments and help prevent fraud. When making an online purchase, you must enter your billing address, which the AVS cross-references with the information associated with your credit card. If the two addresses match, the transaction is approved; if they don’t match, then it’s denied.
This extra layer of authentication helps confirm that you are indeed the authorized user of the credit card making the purchase. While this isn’t a guarantee of preventing fraud entirely, it goes a long way toward ensuring financial security in day-to-day commerce.
5. Tokenization
Tokenization is a secure online payment feature that helps protect customer payment data from hackers. It works by converting payment data into a random string of numbers which would be useless to anyone trying to breach the security system.
Many popular payment processors offer tokenization for added safety, so you should ask what security measures your chosen processor takes when looking for one. Adding extra layers of defense is always beneficial, and tokenization can provide an additional sense of safety in secure payments.
6. Require Strong Passwords
Strong passwords are critical to keeping user accounts and data safe from cybercriminals. Requiring strong passwords is a smart way to reduce the risk of being hacked, as it limits the likelihood that criminals will be able to guess or brute-force the correct codes.
However, strong passwords have an added benefit: if customers forget their passwords, there must be an efficient “forgot your password” process so they can still get into their accounts — preventing them from resorting to easy-to-guess ones. A reliable recovery system alongside strong passwords is the best way to stay secure online.
7. Use SCA
As the world has shifted to digital commerce, it is now more critical than ever that businesses and consumers take measures to protect online transactions. This is where Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) comes in – SCA is a vital tool that increases security on online payments and helps reduce fraud.
By requiring two or more elements, such as passwords, badges, fingerprints, or voice recognition, to authenticate identities and access information, SCA ensures that users don’t unwittingly become victims of cybercrime and financial loss.
8. Monitor Fraud
Monitoring fraud is essential for merchants who handle eCommerce payments. The payment gateway instantly detects suspicious activity when rules are set in place. This allows businesses to immediately reject or manually review purchases without having to keep track of all of their customers’ transactions indefinitely. Through continuous fraud monitoring, companies can stay one step ahead of fraudulent activity, allowing them to keep their customers secure and protect their reputation as a trustworthy merchant.
Conclusion
The answer to the question of how do I ensure security in online payments can be complex. An integrated approach, consisting of advanced payment verification technologies and classical protection using VPN apps, is required.
Each component of this system is also subject to increased requirements. You can look here at why we recommend choosing VeePN. But by itself, each piece of advice will not lead to guaranteed protection of online payments, the maximum efficiency will be with the complex use of all of the above.