Security Tips

Taking credit card payments over the internet can be risky. In order for a business to provide its customers with peace of mind, the business must take measures to facilitate safe and secure credit card transactions over the internet. Listed below are just some of the steps a business can take in this regard:

SSL Certificate

Since information transferred over the internet is not encrypted, it is neither secure nor private. Anyone with a little know how can listen to the transmission between your computer and the internet. Credit card transactions over the internet are no exception. To protect your business and your customers from credit card fraud and theft, one must encrypt the information transferred between their website and the customers. The technology used to encrypt such information is called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. To implement SSL technology on a website, one must purchase and install SSL certificate on their website. SSL certificate not only encrypts the information but also identifies the business as a legitimate internet business. SSL certificate can be purchased from several online vendors specializing in data security and encryption.

Security features offered by a payment gateway

When choosing a payment gateway, please make sure they offer adequate fraud protection features. One very effective fraud protection feature is the Address Verification System (AVS). AVS authenticates the customer and the credit card details by verifying cardholder's address with the financial institution that issued the credit card. There may be separate fees for fraud protection features.