Security Payment Forms: 6 Methods to Protect Customer Data at Checkout
Hackers are advancing their skills in their attacks, and one particular area they are known to target is the online checkout experience on online stores, which makes safe payment options more essential than ever.
For example, Malwarebytes researchers recently found an expertly placed web-based skimmer that was on Tupperware's checkout page. Tupperware checkout site.
In the State of Malware Report from 2021, "Malwarebytes analysts, among those who first ones to discover this web skimmer noted that there was 'a considerable amount of effort put in the Tupperware compromise in order to connect with the skimmer of credit cards seamlessly and remain undetected for as long as possible.'"
What makes this attack so ingenuous is that the attackers went out of their way to disguise the payment method they employed: an impersonation trick to make the skimmer appear like Cloudflare technology that speeds up web page load times.
Recently, we spoke to several software developers. We asked their thoughts on protecting customer information and preventing data breaches during check-out. We received a variety of opinions, for example:
- Utilizing an AVS (Address Verification Service)
- Tokenization
- Stacking payment gateways
- Paying with encrypted transactions
Apart from using SSL certificates, and making sure your site is PCI-DSS compatible Here are 7 other ways software developers can create a more secure checkout.
Securing the Checkout Process: Six Ways to Secure Customer Payment Info
1. Use eCommerce Fraud Protection
Artem Minaev, a Co-Founder of FirstSiteGuide suggests the use of eCommerce Fraud protection software for your site.
"The software scans through every second to verify that everything matches up between a buyer and their payment. In some cases, they can search whether the card of the buyer matches with their IP address."
2. Use Payment Tokenization
Julian Witkowski from Sunscrapers proposes payment tokenization. "By turning sensitive payment information to a string of randomly generated numbers the credit card tokenization removes any identification from the information. As a result, the data can be delivered via the internet or payment systems to finish the transaction with no disclosure."
3. Find out about prospective credit card processors
There are numerous things that you should take into consideration when researching processing companies for credit cards. Along with transaction fees as well as other charges, take a take a look at their fraud prevention services to see what support you will have if the unthinkable should occur.
4. For Outsource Payment Forms
Daniela Sawyer, founder of FindPeopleFast offers an affordable alternative to creating payment forms on your own. "I prefer an external solution for creating forms and securely integrating these into my platform" said Daniela.
She also recommends third-party secure form of payment that can be used for mobile payments as well. "Most services support almost all of the payment methods. Users who make use of mobile devices are immediately able to view an app variant of the payment form."
Other advantages are also derived from making use of this method to secure handling customer payment information. Forms are easy to integrate into the web site and there are no significant development start-up costs. When you partner with a trusted software provider, you can be sure the security requirements are adhered to.
5. Scan and Update Your Website Regularly
Hackers often target what they consider to be low-hanging fruits, such as outdated eCommerce software like Magento 1.x that is no longer patched or supported by its developers.
Haroon Sethi, CEO & Director of Proqura recommends that you "always be sure your website is up-to-date. Make sure you are using the most recent versions and block hackers to gain access to the information they want to access through a bug within the earlier versions."
Third-party plugins are an additional way hackers can target your site. Try to limit the plugins on your website to a minimum. It is even possible to go as far as setting up Google alerts to monitor mentions of plugin compromises in news reports.
Kyle MacDonald, Director of Operations at Force by Mojio, takes scanning one step further. "We have a FIM (file integrity monitoring) system which detects and alerts us to any unauthorized or unexpected changes made to files." Monitoring continuously for any changes made to server files could provide an early warning that an intrusion has occurred.
6. Make use of the Direct Post Method
The Direct Post Method works well for those who require greater control over the look and feel of the payment forms. However, you'll need a good understanding of the PCI DSS security requirements to implement it.
Vadim Belski, head of Web Development at ScienceSoft, is a proponent for the Direct Post Method. "For this approach we have built a stronger security for an online payment form in order to protect against fraudulent attempts to alter the form and steal cardholder's personal information during the process of filling out the form," Vadim says.
Merchant of Record (MoR) Secure Payment Forms designed for Software as well as SaaS Companies
Your clients still come to your website for purchase of your software. The MoR manages the entire purchase. The MoR is also responsible for the entire billing process, starting with PCI-DSS compliance through sales tax collection and reporting.
