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SECURITY ISSUES REGARDING 3RD
PARTY CREDIT CARD PROCESSING
It is believed by a few merchants that
third party processing comes with
several security loop holes. This is
only a myth and is totally untrue. If
there are a few security loop holes,
then they are the same that exist with
the regular processing systems. This is
because a third party processor uses the
same systems as that of the regular
processor and therefore the same
security system is used. Hence, if there
are loop holes in the security system of
a 3rd Party Credit Card
Processor then the same holes exists in
the regular processors security system.
The only dissimilarity is: in 3rd
party processing, there are 2 gateways
involved: 1 that exists between the
third party merchant and the third party
card processor and the second one is
between the third party card processor
and the bank. In this case, the merchant
will see the 3rd party
processor as the merchant account
provider and the services provider.
In third party processing of credit
cards, the SSL encoding system is used
to transfer transaction details. This
technology is the most sophisticated
that is available in the market. It
stands for “Secure Socket Layer” and it
protects the data from being read or
modified. The third party processors,
like all users of the system, have a SSL
certificate, also known as keys. These
act as ID - Cards or net passports.
You should never trust or do business
with a third party processor who does
not have a SSL Certificate.
When your customers enter their personal
and credit card information such as
passwords, card numbers, and names and
more, the SSL security layer will
encrypt all this information by using
the unique SSL certificate as a key and
a modifier. This information is
forwarded to the credit card processor.
At the processor’s end the information
is decrypted and encrypted again, but
this time the processor’s service SSL
certificate is used as the key. The
encrypted information is now forwarded
to the bank. Here, the information is
decrypted and processed.
A few of the third party service
providers store up the transaction
details so that only you will be able to
access and use it. Also, the bank will
send statistical information to your
processor account.
If you have understood the information
given till now, then you should be sure
that third party processing firms with
the SSL technology can be trusted just
like any other regular processors. If
you are still not confident then you can
install several other safety features
and make your customers feel comfortable
and secure while shopping in your online
store. Features like security codes,
transaction information submission using
a password and even small features like
having a safety guideline on your site
will influence your customer’s decision
to do business with you. Therefore,
don’t try to take your customers
information lightly and protect it with
all you have got. If there is any
leakage of information then customers
will not come back to your online store.
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