Businesses frequently handle sensitive customer information when collecting it for payments through credit card details and personal data. Ensuring customer info remains out of the hands of cybercriminals is crucial to a company’s reputation and how much people trust it. 

It's crucial to secure payments to maintain customer trust and prevent damage to the brand’s reputation. While most people understand a company isn’t necessarily responsible for a cybercriminal attacking its databases, they will want to know that the business did everything in its power to prevent it and have a plan for what to do should the worst occur. 

Best Ways to Secure Digital Payments

Around 32% of small business owners cited cyber incidents, like data breaches, as one of their top concerns for their companies. Secure payment gateways are crucial to protect data and to implement some of the better methods of masking names, credit card numbers and contact information. Some of the foundational things companies can do to protect themselves and their customers from cyber thieves include:

SSL/TSL Encryption 

Encryption makes it more likely data remains secure as it gets transmitted or stored during payment processing. While no method is 100% safe, anything businesses can do to slow down hackers is a step in the right direction. Secure socket layers (SSL) and transport layer security (TLS) protect data. Businesses must secure an SSL certificate from a certificate authority and install it on the website server. 

Tokenization 

Cybercriminals may try to gather credit card numbers to steal thousands of dollars from consumers. Tokenization replaces any card data with a token. Hackers have a hard time understanding what the token stands for should they break through security and access transactions. 

Advanced Authentication

Adding two-factor authentication (2FA) and biometric authentication can prevent cybercriminals from guessing logins and passwords or grabbing them off the dark web. If a company plans to save personal info to a database, requiring 2FA or biometrics to log in prevents unsavory actors from getting into the system and gaining access to people’s data. 

For example, if a site is on a content management system (CMS), it may be vulnerable to hackers. Adding 2FA can prevent easy entry via backdoor administrative tools. 

Strong Passwords

Requiring passwords with special characters, numbers and upper and lower case letters may seem obvious, but not all sites require it. Any person who accesses a site, from customers to administrators should create a strong password and change it frequently. Those in IT will naturally expect strong passwords, but customers may not have the same perspective, so forcing specific elements during password creation becomes crucial.

PCI Compliance

Another way to ensure a business takes payments securely is by paying attention to regulations and standards set by the industry. The payment card industry (PCI) has some regulations for how retailers can accept payment, including methods to ensure the correct person is using the card. 

Since one of the most significant risks for businesses is cybercrime, PCI standards ensure businesses protect consumer data and maintain their reputations for doing so. 

Awareness

Training employees and customers to recognize attempts to steal data or access systems is a vital step in protecting personal information. With advances in artificial intelligence (AI), more organizations are seeing phishing attempts and deepfake scams. One example would be a scammer making a video of the company CEO touting a special offer if users click on a link. The link, of course, takes the customer to a site that steals their information. 

AI-related scams are on the rise, and will continue as the technology becomes more commonplace and available to cybercriminals. Brands can inform customers of the possibility and ensure they know the ways the company will reach out for communication should they need to verify a credit card number or other personal data. 

Verify Purchases

Since online purchases are card-not-present transactions, take the time to make sure things such as the mailing address and contact information match what’s on the card. Companies can prevent chargebacks by using a verification service to ensure data matches what the credit card provider has on file. 

When in doubt, take the time to call the card issuer and the customer to confirm all information is correct and the purchase is legitimate. 

Stop Storing Information

While it might be a pain for customers to punch their information in each time they make a purchase, not storing credit card numbers or personal data leaves little for criminals to steal. One idea is to go with a third-party payment option, where users can pay via Google, Stripe, Apple Pay and other services with a single click.

When storing data, organizations should work with a third-party payment processor. Rather than keeping the files on a smaller server that could be vulnerable to hacking, the information will be encrypted and stored on a more secure server.

Antivirus and Firewalls

Website developers should install antivirus software and firewalls to prevent attacks and the insertion of malicious software that might collect user information. Adding some backend protection for a site also keeps it safe from people who might think it’s a fun game to take over a website without the intent of stealing data. Young hackers occasionally put nonsense up on a homepage, which can damage brand reputation and result in lost sales while the site is down. 

Watch Patterns 

Use machine learning (ML) to check for customer usage patterns. Anything out of the ordinary triggers the auditing software, stops the customer from accessing information and requires verification to move forward. 

ML programs will look at historical transaction data down to the date, time, amount, card type and previous user information entered and compare it to a current sale to ensure it all matches. Business managers must mark potential fraudulent transactions and train the computer to identify threats. The more the computer works with identifying fraud, the better its anomaly detection algorithms work. 

Peace of Mind for Business Owners and Consumers

Taking the time to install measures needed to protect consumer data gives both company leadership and customers peace of mind that the information stays in the right hands. Ideally, a secure system implements all of the measures listed above and pays attention to additional programs or protocols as cybercriminals develop new ways to gain access to systems. With some vigilance, everyone will feel more secure and companies will avoid chargebacks and angry clients.