With the rising trend of online shopping, more and more people are finding it convenient and easy to buy products from the comfort of their home or office. Today we can purchase nearly anything on the internet. As per retail experts, online shopping may soon overtake traditional shopping in terms of money. The society has become increasingly dependent on online payments due to the convenience offered. However, the sudden surge of web payments also increases the risk of several cybercrimes, including identity theft, fraudulent transactions, and hacking. As new users don’t take the required precautions for safe transactions, incidents involving credit or debit card data stolen have been rising over the last few years. Majority of these instances are directly related to online payments and banking card data stored online. Consumers should think twice before clicking the “pay now” button.
Online Payment Fraud Statistics
As per the latest research, online payment fraud losses are expected to double between 2018 and 2023. The rapid advancement in E-Commerce sales and a growing number of digital fraud cases faced by several countries remains a hindrance for online shoppers.
Payment Method Preferences
In addition to the traditional usage of debit and credit cards, new developments in technology have brought along other super easy payment options that can be adopted by online sellers. The common feature is to provide comfort and easiness of paying. Mobile wallets, payment gateways, email-invoicing, and lifestyle applications are gaining wider acceptance among online shoppers. There is a chance of even cryptocurrency being utilized sometime in the future.
Question of Online Payment Security
Safety is one among several aspects (including ease and convenience) that online buyers value when it comes to the payments. To some extent, we can rely on technology to protect us as the financial details are encrypted into a hard-to-read format. Today, you cannot escape from making payments over the internet, but adequate precautions must be taken to keep our money safe. The foremost thing to consider is that the E-commerce merchant is reputed and trusted. Websites of small merchants may not be secure enough to prevent data theft. If you think the merchant is not trustworthy, then do not proceed to pay online.
How to ensure smooth and secure online payment?
The following guidelines were put together by the Asian gourmet food store Bateel and its cybersecurity team. “A newly opened online business should ensure the implementation of permanent solutions for secure online payments. While making payment in an online store never visited before, customers need a double dosage of security.” – Says Bashshar Ayser Harb, a Bateel representative. Here are three things that such stores should implement.
1. Make sure the payment provider is PCI compliant
The PCI standards (Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council) are detailed and protect the security of data during transmission as well when it’s being stored and verified.
2. Verify encryption of all transactions
Encryption protects data in transit. Many payment-processing providers have already applied this process for extra safety required when a customer sends card data to them.
3. Always use strong authentication
It should be noted that user credentials can be stolen and faked like any other data. Hence it is of utmost importance to have a strong authentication that uses multiple independent authentication factors. This type of authentication can easily withstand many cyber-attacks.
