Payment Gateways: Secure & Smart Way To Accept Payments

In this digital era, more than 60% of customers prefer buying products online, as it is a very convenient & fast way of shopping. Having said that, accepting online payments has become essential for every business, regardless of type and scale. If you don’t accept online payments, your risk of losing business will always be high.

However, online payment is not only an opportunity, but it is a risk prone entity that needs to be handled very carefully. Cyber hackers always target online payment gateways of small and medium scale companies because they know that such businesses have low-budget security tools that are usually easy to crack up.

But by keeping the track of online payment processing activities that execute at the background of payment gateway, all the vulnerabilities therein can be prevented.

What is an online payment gateway?

Online payment gateway is a service provided by merchant service providers that authorizes payments for online retailers and e-commerce businesses. It is almost similar to physical point of sale device that most retail outlets use to accept card payments.

It encrypts transaction information like card number to ensure that data passes securely between the merchant and customer. Payment gateway completes the entire transaction process in a very secure way within a few seconds.

What is the process of an online payment gateway?

The payment gateway transfers transaction details from the payment portal, which can be a site, payment processor, bank, or mobile phone.

Encryption: Once a buyer places an order, the web browser encrypts the transaction information via a highly secure SSL encryption tool. It is almost impossible for cyber criminals to hack the encrypted data.

Payment server: The information is then sent to a relevant bank or payment processing vendor who verifies that information and sends confirmation for authorization to the card issuing bank or financial institute.

Authorization: The card issuing bank then sends either approval or decline information to the payment gateway.

Confirmation: The gateway tool then sends back the transaction information to the payment portal and buyer respectively.

Money Transfer: The acquiring bank then transfers the money into the merchant’s account.

If the transaction request is declined, the message is sent to the merchant and customer alike. The customer can try again or use other payment method to complete the transaction process.

How to choose a payment gateway service provider?

Payment gateway service providers basically work as a security guard for online transactions. They provide services & tools to confirm security and validity of online transactions.

They provide exceptional services to make sure that customer’s information remain safe and protected. For this, they first encrypts information using SSL encryption tool, validates the transaction data, decrypts the information and then sends the required details to the merchant account.

You should be very careful while selecting your service provider as many work only with aim to earn money.

Technology and Functionality: Make sure the online payment gateway technology & tools that your service provider uses fits your business and appeals to your customers. Also, the used technologies and tools should be flexible enough to be modified with the changing needs of your business.

Location: When it comes to a payment gateway, location of the business and service provider matters a lot. The location will affect the set of rules and strategies that service provider will implement to offer payment gateway services to online retailers and e-commerce businesses.

Business Type: You should also consider your business type before selecting a gateway provider, especially if you are running high risk business. Many service providers do not support all services of a business that come under high risk category. So before hiring anyone, ensure that the service provider also covers services that come under the high risk category.

Service Charges: Most of the merchants prefer to select payment gateway services that are cheap. However, for low fees, you should not compromise with the quality of service. You should always hire a service provider who offers reliable and exceptional services.

Technical Support: Obviously, you can’t bear loss of sales due to technological errors or disaster. Never forget to ensure that the service provider you select offers customer support 24/7. This is essential to ensure that you are always available and running.

Payment Security: Offering quality services has no meaning if your customers do not feel safe while paying bills online. You should incorporate highly advanced security tools and technologies to make your payment processing secure.

Possible Payment Gateway Vulnerabilities Cover:-

SQL Injection Vulnerable Sites: Today there are many SQL injection vulnerable sites available that hackers can use to access data from merchant’s back-end database. You should implement all required security features to protect your system from such kind of vulnerable activities.

Price Manipulation: Using web application proxy sites, hackers try to change actual price of the purchased product when the transaction information is passed from custom’s web browser to the web server. The process lets hackers to transfer money into the desired account illegally.

Authentication & Authorization: Your authentication feature should forbid multiple failed logins. Otherwise, it will become easy for hackers to trace private authentication credentials for illegal purposes.

To resolve these possible vulnerabilities, most good payment gateway service providers provide some basic facilities like:-

• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to handle credit card payments with high security.
• Innovative security tools & technologies to protect sensitive information & transaction details like cardholder data, card number, data storing techniques, verification from card brands, etc.
• Use of innovative tools and applications to handle PCI related things in an accurate manner.

It is better to implement tokenization method to safely store, process and access customer’s card details.

Recommendations: You should keep an eye on your competitors, especially when are using payment gateway services and making good sales due to this facility. This will aid you to select the right service provider without any confusion & hassles.

So if you want to accept online payments and looking for the best payment gateway services, then approach any well-known and reputed gateway service provider!