Keep your credit card payment system secure isn’t the easiest task to manage, especially if your business operates primarily through internet sales. However, secure payment processing systems are absolutely essential for any business that wants to sell its products and services online — not only because your customers deserve the safety and protection, but also because your business deserves just as much protection.
While the best plan of action is to find a secure payment processing service, there are a few smaller ways you can make sure that your business is staying as safe as possible when it comes to online transactions:
- Ask that customers provide the three- or four-digit security code of their credit card along with the card number. This security code is located on the back of every credit and debit card, and it’s often not included in the information bundles that hackers steal.
- If the shipping address is different from the customer’s billing address, be sure to double-check that this transaction is valid! Extra red flags should pop up if the billing address is in the U.S. but the shipping address is in another country.
- Speaking of international shipping, some businesses choose not to ship products internationally at all — and that decision is completely up to each business. Many hackers operate in multiple countries because payments are harder to track, so this could eliminate any risk of getting an invalid purchase.
- Although it might not be feasible to ask that every customer confirms every purchase they make online, it’s a good idea to ask for payment confirmation on expensive orders via email, text message, or by phone.
- Most importantly, make sure you and your employees know how to prevent system breaches and how to detect possible breaches! Strong passwords are really important, and if you notice a high amount of activity on your computer system at night, that’s one sign that your network may have been infiltrated.
So now it’s your turn to contribute — what other tips would you suggest for increasing the strength of a secure payment processing system? Be sure to share your thoughts!
