Without a question, the growth of websites and e-commerce opportunities has boosted the need for electronic payment methods. These systems already exist, allowing you to pay for your purchases at any time and from any location in the world (go to https://rates.fm/ to stay up to date on current exchange rates). This shows that the peak of payment system development has already occurred. Non-cash transaction value is presently 114.2 billion US dollars and is rapidly increasing. It clearly has a lot of growth potential, but we have to be cautious!
Overview of online payment systems
Currently, 20% of firms market their products and services using e-commerce platforms. Companies, as you know, had a specific need for e-commerce during the pandemic. Companies must still employ cutting-edge electronic payment methods and technologies, if they wish to provide excellent service.
According to a recent study, the usage of electronic payment systems and payment processing equipment will expand in the United States during the next few years. Even if there will be fewer checks and cash transactions, it is more necessary than ever to be cautious while making online payments.
How to prevent unsafe use of payment systems?
In order to prevent fraudulent use of bank cards on the Internet, you can use payment control systems. They can be absolutely free. However, you need to choose those which rely on the payment control system implemented by Visa, which cards are working in 150 countries, and MasterCard. Thanks to the corresponding programs “Verified by Visa” and “Mastercard ID Check”, the security of your online payments is enhanced.
In addition, there are two systems of bank card payment protection and when making a purchase, you must first provide:
- your bank card number;
- expiration date;
- visual cryptogram (the last 3 digits of the number on the back of your card);
- then click OK to confirm the entered information.
If you want to check your payments on sites that display the “Verified by Visa” and/or “Mastercard ID Check” logos, you must be authorized according to the on-screen instructions with a security pass or a special security code received over the phone during the transaction.
How to confirm your purchases with a Security Pass?
The verification waiting screen will appear if you use a payment control system. After that, your payment is verified in the app. Simply accept the transaction and enter your remote banking secret code to accept your purchase.
How to verify your purchases with your security device?
You will receive a security code via SMS or via a phone call (a call to a phone number that you have previously declared and activated). You must enter the security code in the field provided to confirm your purchase.
What are other ways to pay securely?
All previous recommendations, main considerations and good practices are applicable for Internet payment services, such as:
- Execution of card payments over the Internet, including payments with virtual cards, registration of data related to the payment card for use in wallet-type solutions;
- Carrying out credit transfers over the Internet;
- Issuance and modification of electronic direct debit mandates (e-mandates) ;
- Electronic money transfers (e-money) between two electronic money accounts over the Internet.
In short, these recommendations apply to all credit transfers made through the web portals of each entity, the services provided as an acquiring bank for electronic businesses and the cards issued as an issuer of payment methods.
However, the following Internet payment services are explicitly outside the scope of these recommendations:
- Services such as e-brokerage provided from the entities’ websites.
- Payments whose instruction is made by regular mail, telephone banking, voice mail or with SMS technologies.
- Credit transfers where a third party accesses the customer’s payment accounts.
- Payment transactions made through dedicated business networks.
- Card payments using anonymous, non-reloadable cards or prepaid cards where there is no relationship between the issuer and the cardholder.
- Clearing and settlement transactions.
- Mobile payments not made through the browser.
The latter is one of the ones that has generated the most controversy, since remote banking applications for smartphones tend to be a front-end based on the browser- and that also make use of web services shared with the entities’ pages.
The great challenges for entities focus on complying with the recommendations related to authentication , where the new requirements both in data access and initiating payments require the use of strong authentication. For this authentication process to be considered valid, it must be carried out following the following precepts:
- Use two mechanisms of different nature, either knowledge, possession or inherence;
- That at least one of them is reusable.
As you can see, in practice this implies the need to migrate to OTP (one time password) type systems, tokens with generated keys or even cryptographic calculators.
Another measure to take into account refers to the data access part. Traditionally, entities that have used strong authentication mechanisms have done so to initiate transfers or payment orders. With the new recommendations, access to payment data must also be secured, so two possibilities arise: strongly authenticate prior to access to any data or, failing that, mask information considered sensitive.
In addition, you can take into consideration other recommendations, such as:
- Establish transaction monitoring mechanisms designed to prevent, detect and block fraudulent payment transactions;
- Introduce various levels of security to reduce identified risks;
- Provide assistance and guidance to clients on good Internet security practices and monitoring of operations.
Conclusion
All these recommendations collected for the fight against fraud cover both Internet payment operations and access to confidential payment data. The ultimate goal is to ensure that a person initiating the payment is a legitimate user.
And also, the goal is to increase your confidence in Internet payment services. In this sense, it is necessary to be aware that a high level of security in payments increases, in turn, the complexity for users. This change in the landscape of payments over the Internet may occur in the short term or, on the contrary, we will have to wait for a long time to get reviews of all payment services, to see significant changes. To stay updated on the currencies, visit the Rates website.
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