12 Mar DATA SECURITY: HOW TO KEEP YOUR CLIENTS’ DATA SAFE

Data security: how to keep your clients’ data safe

As an online merchant, you have the responsibility to carefully process and protect your clients’ sensitive data. Name, password, address, social security number, payment related data could all potentially be used by hackers to create fake identities or fraud attempts.

According to ECB Fifth Report on Card Frauds (September 2018), the total value of fraudulent transactions conducted using cards issued within SEPA and acquired worldwide amounted to €1.8 billion in 2016. [1]

There are some actions to take to protect your users’ data, and there are alternative ways to let your clients pay on your site smoothly, still ensuring a high-level of security.

Basic tips for protecting your customer’s identity online

Complex problems as a data thefts and cyber security breakdown can be very time-consuming and result in money losses, low reputation and legal complaints.

There are some actions that you can take to protect your customers’ identity online:

• Select a reliable web hosting company and make sure to provide a secure website and to use the https protocol, instead of http.
• Avoid sharing your clients’ data with third parties, especially bank details or payment data.
• Add secure protection, anti-virus software and other security layers to your business servers and computer systems. Regular updates of software and systems are a must.
• Ask customers and clients for their feedback on the purchasing process and to inform you when things are unstable or not working properly.
• Work with expert and trusted developers and companies that can take care of cyber-crime measures.
• Verify the identity of your customers, when possible, checking their personal data and billing information.
• Offer trusted, secure payment methods that offer a high level of customer identity protection.

If you comply with these steps, you materialize solid end-to-end process and chances of damages are reduced, and you are taking the first essential measures to protect your customers while purchasing from your site.

How MyBank helps you accept payment in secure way from your customers

When your customers pay by MyBank, they are redirected to their own online banking environment, where they will be able to authenticate themselves with their usual credentials, completing a payment without going through third-party platforms. Payments are authorized through a two-factor authentication process directly in the online banking, thus sensitive data are not shared with third parties and the transaction is secure.

Since bank infrastructures are built with secured and sophisticated architectures and standards, and will be even more with the introduction of the PSD2, the level of security is extremely high and the risk of frauds, chargebacks, and data breaches is eliminated.

On top of that, MyBank is more than e-payments: it offers e-identity verification services that allow merchants to confirm the identity of buyers through their online bank account, before completing the purchase or stipulating an online agreement.

Conclusions

As an online merchant, it is important to protect the user’s sensitive data during the purchase and process any data without sharing them with third parties.

Offering a secure experience based on the secure environment of the Internet and Mobile Banking is the ideal solution for protecting your customers’ data, when they are purchasing from your site or app.

 

[1] https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/cardfraud/html/ecb.cardfraudreport201809.en.html