Payment Gateways – What Are the Risks Lurking Around?

Online businesses of all sizes need to be able to accept payments today. This really is the only way in which you can buy and sell products and services without a physical presence. It’s convenient and economical but there are also some risks associated with it because of the information being shared.

Payment gateways are something that you must watch carefully because they’ve been responsible for data loss that’s caused companies to earn a bad reputation, receive fines for lack of compliance, and even file for bankruptcy.

How to Know When Your Business Is at Risk

These risks don’t depend on your company’s size or industry. Modis says it simply depends on how valuable hackers think the information you have is. This is why you need to pay close attention to where your data is stored.

Typically, this happens either in a remote data center or in the cloud instead of storing the information on your own servers today. However, there will still be some information that’s stored on your own web server, as the transaction takes place on your website before it’s transmitted to the remote location. This is especially true when you’re using a proprietary or a customized shopping cart.

Regardless of what type of network security software you’re using, you need to know the path that the data is taking. You also need to make sure that there’s the https:// or “lock” symbol in people’s internet browsers when they reach your website.

Additionally, as a business or an organization that handles card holder data today, you must also comply with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). This is designed to prevent credit card fraud by providing standards for secure data transmission and storage. It provides a means of intrusion detection, sets standards for who (Read more...)