Security of E-commerce Websites is Crucial to Reduce Fraud Risk

Any business that accepts credit card (CC) payments is in danger from credit card fraudsters and hackers. Most brick and mortar establishments acknowledge this danger and have restructured their credit card processing systems to incorporate secure technologies and protocol. E-commerce websites also face the risk of being robbed by criminals. They must protect the business and its customers by complying with industry best practices for secure credit card transactions and federal regulations.

Risks Faced by E-Commerce Websites

Ecommerce website owners can be targets of various kinds of credit card fraud. Some of these may be so stealthy that their effect will not be immediately noticeable in the business finances. Some of the risks faced by ecommerce websites are:

Stolen Credit Card Numbers Used to Pay for Goods

The most common credit card fraud seen by e-commerce websites is the use of stolen card numbers to make purchases.

Randomly Validated Credit Card Numbers Used for Big Purchases

A compromised ecommerce website can be used by hackers to validate card numbers with small purchases. Once a credit card number is validated, it is used by the fraudster later to make a hefty purchase.

Credit Refunded to Stolen Credit Card

Experienced criminals can force an exposed ecommerce website’s payment processing system to submit the credit back from the merchant account to a stolen card account. This way, the difference in the short-term account balance can be overlooked by the card holder.

Customer Payments Diverted to Fake Clearing Accounts

Hackers that have compromised the security of your e-commerce application can enter their own information to replace the payment data. While the e-commerce application moves the order information towards fulfillment, the criminals divert the payment to their forged account instead of the merchant’s.

Responsibility of Securing the E-Commerce Website

Dealer gateway providers use open systems to enhance customer-friendliness of their products. E-commerce Web site owners purchase the necessary software solutions to customer information to transfer the payment gateway agencies. It's a constant tussle between the e-commerce website solution provider and vendor payment platform operator, the responsibility for the safety of CC transactions.

E-Commerce Website Design and Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance

The PCI Security standards council has laid down guidelines for secure transaction processing across the industry. PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) hopes to simplify the process of protecting customer information from website hackers and criminals.

PCI data security standards regulate the minimum level of security features in:

* e-commerce website software solutions

* database archives on the server

* the physical premises of the server

An ecommerce website that fails to comply with PCI standards can lose its sanction for processing online transactions. They are also liable to pay fines up to $30 for each credit card number that was compromised. Though there is a cap of $500,000 on the fine, e-commerce website owners cannot afford to lose the online transactions function of their business.

Professional ecommerce website designers are conversant with PCI regulations and can help you build a strong and secure website to reduce credit card fraud and hacking. The cost of a skilled website design team is worth the thousands of dollars it saves you by protecting your business from fraud and for following industry security guidelines.