Electronic payments have revolutionized the online retail industry. People are making purchases as easy as a tap, click, or swipe. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global digital payment market witnessed a sharp spike in 2020. It is expected to grow from $79.3 billion in 2020 to $154.1 billion by 2025, according to figures released by MarketsandMarkets Research. With more customers shifting to online solutions, businesses have expedited their digital transformation initiatives as well.
Your business can also take advantage of this growing trend and gain a competitive edge over those that are limited to traditional sales methods. All you have to do is create a user-friendly interface to accept payments and adopt a robust solution that prevents customer data leaks and attacks by hackers, according to Payment Savvy. Cybersecurity is a big concern for the customers. If you are able to earn their trust, you can significantly boost your sales and revenue.
Here are 5 ways that will help you strengthen your electronic payment security:
Follow SSL for Secure Connections
Make sure that you choose a payment provider that secures every transaction with the SSL protocol. It helps in encrypting sensitive customer information and improving overall payment security. Using SSL will display a padlock icon in the address bar of the users. Also, your web address will begin with HTTPS. It will enhance the faith of the customers in your services and encourage them to buy more confidently.
PCI Compliance
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards make PCI certificates a must for processing payments on your website. However, if you choose the right payment provider, they will take care of the industry security standards and provide data encryption, which is required by PCI. So, you won’t have to worry about being PCI-compliant.
Ensure Tokenization
Tokenization is an excellent method of reducing the risks associated with a data breach. It replaces sensitive data (like credit card numbers of your customers) with a randomly generated string of characters. Once the transaction is authorized, all necessary data is sent to a centralized server and stored securely and you get a unique number or token. You can use it as a substitute for the card data for any future transactions by the customers.
Get 3D Secure Authentication
3D Secure is an additional security layer that helps with fraud prevention for card-not-present transactions. It involves three domains – the bank, the technology that processes the transaction, and the issuing bank. It enables customers to verify the transactions with a generated password (or a one-time PIN sent from their bank over an SMS). It shifts the liability on such transactions from a merchant to the issuing bank.
Use Anti-Fraud Tools
You can use fraud prevention tools that scan and monitor every transaction either automatically or manually, while preventing all suspected fraudulent activities. You can select a payment provider that follows a multilevel approach with these tools to ensure higher protection.
Data breaches are a real threat for businesses as well as their customers. Even smaller businesses are not immune to cybersecurity issues. The average cost of cyber-attacks for small businesses had risen significantly from 8,699 dollars per attack in 2013 to 20,752 dollars per attack in 2014, according to a report by the National Small Business Association. So, it is important that your business deploys added security measures rather than waiting for a crisis.
