Data security is of utmost importance in today’s world, where we generate and store vast amounts of data in digital form. Being in the know of digital payment security best practices is crucial in keeping your sensitive information safe: 

1. Strong Passwords: Use strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts, and change them periodically. Avoid using common or easily guessable passwords. 
2. Two-factor authentication: Enable two-factor authentication for all your accounts that support it. This adds an extra layer of security, requiring both a password and a code sent to your mobile device. 
3. Regular Updates: Keep all software and devices up to date with the latest security patches and updates. 
4. Secure Networks: Use secure and trusted networks and avoid public Wi-Fi networks for sensitive transactions. Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when accessing public Wi-Fi networks. 
5. Data Encryption: Use encryption to protect sensitive data when it’s in transit and when it’s stored. Encryption scrambles the data so it can’t be accessed without the encryption key. 
6. Limit Access: Limit access to sensitive data to only those who need it. Use role-based access controls to ensure only authorized users can access data. 
7. Backups: Regularly backup important data and store it in a secure location. 
8. Employee Training: Train employees on data security best practices and how to identify and prevent security breaches. 
9. Incident Response Plan: Have an incident response plan in place to respond to security breaches quickly and effectively. 

By following these best practices, you can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and protect your sensitive information from cybercriminals. 

PCI DSS Compliance 

Formed by major credit card companies, the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a set of policies and procedures that optimizes the digital payment security via credit or debit cards. These procedures are important because they have methods to protect credit card data, along with ever-evolving standards for encryption, anti-malware software implementation, monitoring, and risk analysis. One of the best ways to ensure your ecommerce business is at the correct level of compliance is to find a payment processor that has already obtained PCI DSS certification and who can assure you they’re up to date with the latest security technologies. 

Two–factor Authentication 

Two-factor authentication is a process in digital payment security that requires users to provide two forms of identification in order to access an account or system. Typically, the first factor is a password or PIN, while the second factor is something that the user possesses, such as a mobile device, security token, or biometric data. 

When a user enters their password or PIN to log in, they are then prompted to provide the second factor, which could be a code sent to their mobile device or a fingerprint scan. This ensures that even if someone has obtained the user’s password, they can’t gain access to the account without the second factor. 

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to authentication, making it much more difficult for hackers to gain unauthorized access to accounts or systems. It’s particularly important for accounts that contain sensitive or confidential information, such as banking or email accounts. 

Many online services now offer two-factor authentication as an option for users to enable, and some may even require it for certain types of accounts. It’s a simple yet effective security measure that can greatly reduce the risk of unauthorized access and protect users’ personal and financial information.  

Tokenization 

Tokenization is a data security technique used in digital payment security, such as credit card numbers, by replacing them with a unique identifier or token. The token is a random string of characters that has no meaning or value on its own but is used in place of the sensitive data. 

When a user makes a purchase using a credit card, for example, the credit card number is first sent to a tokenization system, which replaces it with a token. The token is then sent to the payment processor or merchant, where it’s stored along with other transaction data. The sensitive data is securely stored in the tokenization system and can be retrieved later if needed. 

Tokenization is often used by companies that store sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or personal information, to reduce the risk of data breaches. Since the token has no intrinsic value or meaning, even if it’s intercepted by hackers, they can’t use it to make purchases or access sensitive information. In addition, since the sensitive data is stored in a secure tokenization system, it’s not exposed to the payment processor or merchant, further reducing the risk of unauthorized access. 

Tokenization can be used in a variety of contexts, including payment processing, healthcare, and identity verification. It’s an effective way to protect sensitive data and maintain data security while still allowing efficient and convenient transactions.  

DoS and DDoS Protection 

DoS (Denial of Service) and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are malicious attempts to disrupt or disable an online service, website, or network by overwhelming it with traffic or requests. DoS attacks typically involve a single source of traffic or requests, whereas DDoS attacks involve multiple sources, making them much harder to mitigate. DoS and DDoS protection involves a variety of techniques and technologies to detect and mitigate these types of attacks. Some common methods include: 

1. Traffic Filtering: Filtering out traffic from known malicious sources or those that match specific patterns, such as unusually high traffic from a single source. 
2. Rate Limiting: Limiting the amount of traffic or requests from a single source or IP address. 
3. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Using a network of servers to distribute and manage traffic, allowing for better scalability and resilience to attacks. 
4. Load Balancing: Distributing traffic across multiple servers to ensure that no single server is overwhelmed. 
5. Anti-DDoS Services: Using specialized services that provide advanced threat detection and mitigation techniques, such as behavioral analysis, machine learning, and AI-based approaches. 
6. Network Security: Ensuring that networks are secured with firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and other security measures to prevent attacks from entering the network. 

By implementing these and other DoS and DDoS protection measures, organizations can reduce the risk of disruption and downtime caused by these types of attacks, ensuring the availability and reliability of their online services and reassuring digital payment security.  

Why is Digital Payment Security Important? 

Maintaining digital payment security is paramount for any ecommerce business. Educating yourself, implementing best practices, and selecting a trustworthy payment processor with robust security offerings are excellent ways to reduce risk. Using digital payment security best practices is essential for protecting customers and ensuring a successful business. 

How can PAYARC help? 

Partnering with a reputable payment processing company like PAYARC can help ensure that digital payment transactions are secure, reliable, and compliant with industry standards. It’s important to choose a company that has a proven track record of digital payment security and reliability and that provides robust security features and support.  

Contact us to see how you can up your digital payment security today!  

Verified by Visa is a fraud prevention tool implemented by Visa for eCommerce merchants. Participating merchants will have the Visa Secure badge on the checkout page of their website. Verified by Visa helps prevent credit card fraud by checking to make sure that the purchase is indeed being made by the cardholder—protecting both the customer from identity theft and the merchant from chargebacks. It is important to note that both the customer and the eCommerce merchant must be participating members of the Verified by Visa service.

The card-issuing bank might confirm the identity of the cardholder in several ways. For example, once the credit card information is entered but before it is submitted to the merchant, a message or screen will prompt the customer to enter a one-time passcode or submit biometric identification.

However, in some cases, the customer may not be prompted to submit these checks, even if the merchant is a Verified Visa participant. This simply means that the card-issuing bank is performing certain risk assessment checks, such as analyzing the customer’s spending habits and confirming that the purchase in question falls in line with that particular customer’s previous behavior.

Transactions that use Verified by Visa technology maybe eligible for lower interchange rates, so if you are an eCommerce merchant it is prudent to look into this service—it could save you money!

Pay Per Download: This is perhaps the most common approach to generating revenues with an app. But how do you convince a new user to pay the price you demand without letting them to try it first? If you can’t market your app as truly unique — compared to all the free apps out there — keep looking. Great marketing and PR are imperative with this model

Advertising App Monetization Model: You’ll find more people willing to download your app with no cost barrier (as in pay per download apps). The advertising model offers several “flavors.” It’s often used in mixed-model approaches. Common ad formats currently include:

• Banner Ads
• Native Advertising
• Video Ads
• Voice Ads
• Interstitial Ads
• Rich Media Ads
• Location-Based Ads
• Pop-Up Ads
• Notification Ads

You’ll find examples of these ad types here, here, and here.

Choose the advertising app monetization model if you expect users to visit the app frequently, and stay awhile during each session. You’ll also need to collect user demographic and behavioral data to ensure ads are relevant.

In-App Purchase Monetization Model: Do you plan to sell virtual or physical goods or services from your app? This model works well for retail, gaming, or services apps. It’s been the top mobile app monetization strategy used by high-earning game apps. Be sure to include well-designed purchase incentives that don’t spoil the user experience.

Freemium App Monetization Model: This strange-sounding model replicates the subscription model used in many eCommerce businesses. If you can attract free users, and then entice them with super-unique premium features, choose the freemium app monetization model. The 30 top-grossing apps in the Apple App Store may be downloaded for free, but they all offer desirable premium content for a fee.

Subscription or Paywall Model: This app monetization model is similar to Freemium, but the content is locked, not premium app features. Users are able to view a specific amount of content for free, but then must subscribe to the app to view more. Service-oriented apps succeed with this model (think Netflix or Spotify). The Subscription or Paywall model works well when the app itself inspires repeated — and frequent — use.

The bottom line is to choose the mobile app monetization model that fits your objectives, and the analysis of your target market. In-App Purchases and Subscription models continue to be most successful at driving revenue (33% and 22% respectively), according to a recent study by Apptentive. But a hybrid approach may be best for your app. Let objectives drive the choice.

A survey by Vantiv and Socratic Technologies found that 92% of millennials have active subscriptions online, which means that $1 trial offers are still very feasible ways to ramp up your revenue. Plus, millennials are all about investing in experiences rather than things, and a recurring payment subscription model with discounts offers customers an affordable alternative to buying the same product online every month.

Having the $1 trial option alone is a great way to get more consumers interested on your product as it is more likely to push potential customers to click the buy button. In fact, having a $1 trial can draw in more customers than a free trial due; once a customer invests money—even as little as $1—the chances that they will stick around beyond the initial trial increase.

A $1 trial offer is also a clever way to market products. It eases people into the financial investment with a deep discount and allows them to try a new product or service they may be interested in but may not have otherwise tried. This often results in increased customer loyalty over time, boosting recurring revenue. Recurring revenue is predictable revenue—an enticing benefit for merchants.