The advancement of technology has brought us a series of conveniences, one of them is undoubtedly the means of payments and their ease. If before we had to go to a lottery store or a bank branch to pay a bill, today we carry out all the processes in a few seconds through the screen of our cell phone.
Who remembers the check? Where to make the payment or receive an amount it was necessary to compensate it, something that took a few days to be done.
Thanks to technology, all these bureaucratic processes are behind us, today we have a series of online payment methods. However, this facility carries some security risks for everyone.
In many cases, fraud or loss of considerable amounts can occur, which leads to a number of problems and can put your security at risk.
In this article, we present what security standards are for payment methods and why they are so important, both for companies and for all people who use these payment methods.
Payment methods and their security standards
As mentioned above, we currently have a number of payment methods, most of which are made online, quickly and from anywhere.
Today we don't have to leave home to buy clothes, a computer or even a cell phone, as most stores make purchases available online. With this, we can make payments through:
· Debit card
· Pix;
· Credit card;
· Fetlock.
These facilities have brought us more convenience and agility to our daily lives.
As a result, digital payment methods are so embedded in our daily lives that fewer and fewer people have been using physical cash to pay their bills or carry out transactions.
According to a survey conducted by Opinion Box, 79% of people have been using less and less cash and 65% believe that digital media will put an end to paper money in the future.
We can interpret this research in a few ways, the first without a doubt is the ease that these payment methods offer us. The second is due to the fact of security.
People don't want to leave their homes carrying a certain amount of physical cash, for fear of theft and robbery.
However, many forget that this security concern should also be part of online payments, as many criminals end up taking advantage of these payment methods to apply scams.
That's why you need to pay attention to certifications and websites that offer secure payment seals.
These badges signal that the page offers safe browsing and its main purpose is to convey confidence to the visitor.
For a page to be truly secure, it is necessary to observe some aspects, but without a doubt, seals and certificates already guarantee more credibility for companies.
After all, these regulations help people secure their transactions.
What is PCI Compliance?
PCI Compliance, or PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), in Portuguese stands for Data Security Standard for the Card Payment Industry, this acronym is the internationally recognized security certification in the payments market.
This certification is required for all organizations that process, store, and transmit card data.
PCI was created in 2006, and is a set of security guidelines that need to be followed by institutions that process sensitive card data , such as:
· Name of the bearer;
· Card number;
· Validity;
· CVV.
Its objective is to ensure security in all processing of transactions carried out via card, in this way, it protects personal information and can prevent cases of fraud and misappropriation of data.
PCI is governed and maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI Security Standards Council). It is a board founded by the largest brands in the card industry: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB and Discover.
Prior to this certification being created, each entity had its own security program. That way, if any institution wanted to process its payment method with Visa, for example, it had to comply with its rules.
So far so good, the problem was that this company couldn't talk to Visa. As a result, there were numerous communication and procedural noises, which could trigger a series of problems for those who consumed this organization.
As a result of these problems and in order for there to be a standardization, and with it a common agreement between all parties involved, whether organizations or card industry brands, PCI Compliance emerges.
PCI is non-profit, and according to Guilherme Scheibe, regional director for Brazil at the PCI Security Standards Council, it is an entity that needs feedback from the market.
Therefore, it has the participation of numerous companies that assist in the organization and participation of this program.
This is a fundamental certificate for companies, only in this way do people who carry out their transactions online, feel safer.
Certification is mandatory
It is important that both society and organizations understand the importance of PCI Compliance, because thanks to its creation, transactions become more secure.
As such, this is a certification that should be applied to any company that processes, stores, and transmits credit and debit card data.
This is regardless of the size of the organization or the volume of transactions processed. Organizations that do not comply with the rules are subject to fines and are often disqualified by card operators and networks.
This certification makes the organization pass more security to people, this brings more credibility and makes the online environment safer for transactions.
Importance of PCI Compliance
As you have noticed, PCI Compliance is the safest way to carry out your transactions. Therefore, companies that follow this regulation are the most suitable for making your online purchases.
This happens because institutions need to follow a series of rules to fit into PCI Compliance and thus receive the certificate.
They are:
· Construction and maintenance of a secure network;
· Protection of cardholder information;
· Creation of a vulnerability control program;
· Implementation of solid access control measures;
· Constant monitoring of networks via tests;
· Elaboration of an information security policy.
Only in this way are organizations able to receive their certificate and thus demonstrate the certification to customers.
How to identify if a website is secure?
It is important to pay attention to the websites you browse, promotions can be tempting, which makes us often click on links without even questioning whether it is safe.
As we have demonstrated in this article, PCI compliance regulation and certification helps in the security of all financial transactions carried out on websites.
And how do you know if the page you're browsing is safe? There are a few signs that can tell you if a site is genuine.
Slow navigation
The first step is to observe the navigation and how the layout of this page is, if it is harmonious and if everything fits right, or if the colors, words, information, and photos are strange.
Remember, the official websites have a specialized team, which takes care of the entire navigation process, always making the page intuitive, which helps you navigate through it.
In this way, everything that deviates from this pattern should arouse suspicion.
Search for stamps
One of the requirements to request the security certificate is the protection of cardholder information, which consists of protecting all sensitive data of the cardholder, which can be used in fraud.
To do this, it is necessary to use encryption whenever you transmit data in a payment transaction.
This is precisely where security seals come in, they certify that a website is secure.
The SSL certificate, Secure Sockets Layer, for example, is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and thus enables an encrypted connection.
In this way, it creates an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser, making all transactions more secure.
SSL can be found at the bottom of the page or during the purchase process in the cart.
Search for the company on search engines
If you want to make sure that the institution you are buying from has the PCI Compliance certificate, you can do a simple search.
To do this, enter the name of the company and ask the search engine if it has PCI Compliance certification.
Generally, companies that have this certificate usually create a page exclusively to talk about PCI Compliance and show everyone who consumes their products and carries out transactions that in fact their website is secure.
Awareness always
As we have seen, it is essential to pay attention to a number of factors to make sure that a website is in fact safe. PCI Compliance helps in this entire identification process, however we need to be aware of the websites we browse.
That's why it's so important for companies to carry out an awareness program with everyone who works, regardless of team or position.
This helps everyone to identify if a website is safe, after all, with the advent of the home office, people use their computers to carry out transactions on a website, making the device vulnerable to cyberattacks.
These threats have a strong impact on institutions, and employees are often unaware of the risks and dangers that a simple click can have.
Thus, cyberattacks can stop the production of organizations and thus lead to a series of financial or reputational losses.
In this way, awareness is key to all secure transactions, bringing numerous benefits to everyone, both for personal and professional life. In addition, companies benefit from the entire information security policy.
We at PhishX take cybersecurity as a priority and assist organizations in all processes, as we know how necessary this topic is for society.
In our ecosystem, you can create several campaigns and increasingly improve the information security policy.
Want to learn more about the PhishX ecosystem? Get in touch with our sales team and learn about our solutions.
