Credit Card Transaction Hazards

For instance, an online transaction means that one of your customers must type in their own credit card information and send it out, simply assuming that your online store is actively and adequately protected. They take a major risk; because one of the first protections with a credit card is that it rarely leaves his or her person. In the event of a credit card transaction on the Internet, that information is sent possibly thousands of miles away, with enough time for an identity thief to make off with that information if they were watching while the transaction was taking place. Of course, the technical capability involved to do such things is rather complex, the best of these hackers have the technology they need for their own ends. However, a good, working SSL Certificate and EV SSL security measure would prevent all this from taking place.

EV Identifier

What can an SSL Certificate do?

There are a few things that an SSL Certificate is capable of, which would protect you and your clientèle.

• First, it takes the information that the customer is providing, and the EV SSL measure would force it through a “portal”, essentially bottlenecking the path the information takes. EV means Extended Validation, and it is the gatekeeper for the info tunnel.
• Next the SSL Certificate provides a tunnel for the information to travel through. Instead of an open road, like a normal information transfer, an SSL Certificate protects the information by providing a safe corridor between the customer’s IP and yours.
• Even though this corridor protects it, the SSL Certificate encrypts the information, so that even if a hacker had the ability to get into the corridor, it would take extremely comprehensive and complex software to decipher the encryption.
• Once the information makes it to your end within milliseconds, the SSL Certificate decrypts the information to your server, allowing you to see the info.
• By the end of the transaction, you and your customer are the only ones who are in possession of their information, and that is as it should be. 

Running an SSL Certificate

These types of services are widely available, as protection for information is becoming more and more in demand. You can use services such as, RapidSSL, Verisign, and GeoTrust. These services offer very complex encryption protection, and will keep your company safe from attack. These companies have a long history of protecting their clients and they are ahead of the curve. Beware using a cheap SSL company as these may be using outdated and obsolete software that may be easy to crack.

It is important to keep your good clientele from risk, so make sure that you are protecting them with only the best. The reputation of your company and its survival depend on it.

Think Like a Hacker

If you’re an online business manager or Webmaster, then you need to think like a hacker if you are to protect yourself from their tactics. They cover themselves with encryption, which means that it is crucial to cover you and your customer’s information encryption as well.

This is actually easier than it sounds, as there are many companies out there that provide SSL Certificate encryption services. Essentially, you can turn your information into a temporary hidden language and only you have the cipher. This means that no one but you and your trusted customers have that information, and that is how good business is supposed to operate. Trust is what keeps a company on its feet.

What Is SSL Technology?

For the purpose of illustration, an SSL Certificate operates by forcing your customer’s information into a narrow tunnel with thick concrete walls. It is rather easy to infiltrate an open road because you can enter in anywhere you want, however a tunnel requires work to enter, if you are not infiltrating from the entrance and exit.

Next, that information is protected and encrypted by an EV SSL security measure. Essentially, this is the gatekeeper for your SSL Certificate “tunnel”. EV stands for Extended Validation, and it will require the proper credentials in order to enter the tunnel. Meanwhile, even if an efficient hacker had the ability to make it past the EV SSL security, he or she would be forced to decipher the encryption. This makes it virtually impossible to snatch a customer’s information from cyber space, because that info is highly protected by three layer security.

Example of how PayPal's EV certificate displays in a browser

SSL Companies

SSL Certificate measures are not difficult to employ, for the simple fact that there are a good number of companies that provide this service and make it easy to use. Though it might be easy to operate from the customer and business standpoint, it will be very difficult to infiltrate from the outside.

The only way that your customer will know that he or she is being sent through the corridor is because a small “padlock icon” will appear in either the URL bar (for those using Safari or Firefox), or the icon will appear at the bottom of the page (for those using Netscape and Internet Explorer). The process is so simple, that it does not require any extra effort for them to operate the SSL Certificate and EV SSL protection measures.

Among some of the most notable companies, Verisign has come to the top of the list on multiple occasions. PayPal, OverStock.com, and EBay are all users of Verisign SSL Certificate services. In addition to that, GeoTrust, Thawte, and Rapid SSL, are other reputable companies from which to choose.

It is crucial that you are protecting your clientele from malicious outside forces. Be sure to arm yourself with SSL Certificate protection, and you will keep the trust from your customers, on which your company thrives.