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Technology has made world a global village as everything is just a click away. This has opened up a plethora of opportunities for businesses. Almost all the brands are there on the web enabling people to enjoy the comfort of shopping and transacting while sitting at their home or workplace. More and more people are opting to transact online using their credit cards.
However, other side of picture presents the stark reality of cyber-crimes. The rising number of frauds corroborate the importance of learning about ways to keep one’s sensitive information and credit card details safe while doing online transactions.
Here are some tips and tricks to keep your credit card online transactions safe online –
- Password Protection – Make sure that you do not set very common passwords based on your date of birth, initials of phone number or name etc. as hackers can easily judge and crack them. Setting unique passwords for different transactions is an ideal move as it helps to avoid loss of sensitive information.
- Check The URL – Do check the URL before clicking on any website link because hackers sometimes create legitimate looking sites which otherwise contain malware and can steal your credit card details. Ensure that the address begins with ‘https’ and not ‘http’ as sites with an https connection have higher level of security.
- Avoid Using Public Networks – It is highly advisable to avoid using public networks and Wi- Fi if you are making payments through your credit card. Do not access bank accounts and other websites that require sensitive credentials and logins on public Wi-Fi networks.
- Opt For Trusted Payment Gateways – While transacting through your credit card make sure that you opt for trusted payment gateways. Purchase the product from reputed merchants to lessen the risk of credit card fraud.
- Don’t Store The Information – A pop up may appear on your computer screen when you are doing online banking or making payments online through your credit card. It might ask for permission to save your passwords and other details. The only way to safeguard yourself is to click on ‘NO’. Do not store or save important details like credit card number or passwords to ensure complete safety of information.
- Understand What Sites Need – It is important to keep a note of information that you provide on various sites. Genuine sites and vendors would only ask for details such as the credit card number, expiry date, shipping address and a security code. Be wary of websites that ask for more information than what is generally required.
- Add A Layer Of Security – The soaring figures of credit card frauds validate the importance of adding additional layers of security. Ask your bank to enable the security features and they will send a verification message or one time password before a payment is made through your credit card.
- Regularly View Transaction History – Make it a habit to check your transaction history every now and then. This will enable you to detect any suspicious activity and take preventive measures as soon as possible.
For more information on IT Security, call Centex Technologies at (254) 213-4740.
December 16, 2014
PCI (Payment Card Industry) security standards are a set of guidelines aimed towards protecting the personal information as well as confirming security at the time of online transactions using a credit or debit card. If you are in an online retail business you might be involved in financial transactions over the internet. Such dealings are susceptible to a lot of malicious attacks posing a threat for penalties, lost revenue and even credit card breaches.
Whether you have a small or large web store, being PCI compliant is necessary to ensure security for customer related information while processing payments or while handling their data. An autonomous body named PCI Security Standard Council (PCI SSC) was created by the leading credit card brands MasterCard, Visa, JCB, Discover and American Express to administer and manage the PCI DSS (Data Security Standards).
How to be PCI compliant?
There are 5 standards that must be met for a web store to be PCI compliant:
- Maintain Secure Network: Businesses must ensure that the systems used to store customer data is protected with a firewall. Also, reasonable measures should be taken to safeguard the network to which the servers are connected.
- Protect Cardholder Data: The personal data of the cardholder should not be accessible to everyone. The credit card numbers must be stored in an encrypted form so that even if someone breaches the database, he would not be able to decode the information.
- Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program: Keeping your server software, hardware and operating systems updated is another important measure to be compliant with PCI standards.
- Implement Strict Access Control: Web store owners must assign a unique identification number to each person who has access to the cardholder data. This access should also be provided only to a limited number of employees who need to use it.
- Regularly Test Networks: The network security processes and measures should be regularly scanned, tracked and monitored to detect any potential security issues. Issues detected should be fixed on priority.
Benefits of Being PCI Compliant:
- Merchants can protect themselves against heavy fines by preventing data breach.
- PCI compliant web stores are trusted by the customers. Thus, it helps to increase their business.
- Being PCI Complaint helps to protect the reputation and credibility of an online retailer.
- PCI compliance can help online businesses become more secure by decreasing vulnerability to network attacks.
- Keeping the above benefits in mind, it is important that the web stores should make sure they comply with the security standards of PCI.
We at Centex Technologies provide complete security solution to our clients. For more information, call us at – (855) 375-9654
May 30, 2013
It is not an over exaggeration to say that e-commerce is rapidly going on to become “m-commerce”, with mobile devices serving as a major component of traffic to e-commerce websites. With the undeniable role of handheld devices as a shopping channel, it is becoming imperative for owners of shopping websites to optimize their mobile site designs, and monitor end-user statistics round the clock. Mobile commerce sales are expected to increase manifold over the next couple of years, accounting for a whopping 24% of retail e-commerce by 2016.
Needless to say, business owners have an exciting resource to tap in the form of mobile e-commerce, and need to be channelizing a major part of their efforts in this direction. The first step is to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices, whether this means creating a new mobile site, or changing the design of your current website into a responsive one. The biggest mistake that one can do is assuming that users shall adapt to their existing e-commerce website on their mobile devices. With all the well-optimized mobile sites to choose from, chances of that are bleak.
The prime focus while treading into the zone of mobile commerce should be to ensure optimal user convenience. You need to understand that users who are shopping on their handheld devices are not simply visiting your website, but are also comparing prices, looking for coupons, reading reviews, and performing a whole lot of parallel functions at the same time. You want to keep your web design as clean and light as possible, to ensure quick loading, easy call-to-actions, and absolute user friendliness. This ease of navigation could give you all the competitive advantage you need from a user’s perspective.
The two options that e-commerce website owners are faced with while trying to enhance mobile user experience are-
- Creating an altogether new mobile site
- Adopting responsive web design
The latter option is more feasible, as it makes it possible for companies to have a single website that adapts to whichever device it is being viewed on. While the upfront costs of implementing responsive web design might be higher than those of creating a mobile site, it saves significantly more in the long run. Now that mobile commerce is definitely here to stay and grow with each passing day, it would be prudent of business owners to take necessary steps to make the experience of their mobile users an optimal one.
November 10, 2011
An e-commerce website is generally established by business houses in order to provide online ordering and delivery of goods or services. E-commerce websites are also used to advertize and promote businesses among masses at a simple instant of a click. There are several aspects that go into the creation of an eCommerce website. There are multiple design features that need to be kept in mind while developing an eCommerce website as your business website is deemed to represent the image of your brand to web surfers and potential customers. It is thus essential to ensure that all necessary aspects are incorporated into your website to make it easily navigable and attractive for visitors.
The main element that needs to be decided while coming up with an eCommerce website design is the kinds of fonts and colors that you are going to be using for the text displayed on the webpages. This is not a simple decision and should never be left to chance as the way the text is inserted in your website can go a long way in encouraging visitors to stay and read the content. If you use fonts that are too large or too small or are in garish colors, you can end up alienating your customers as they are likely to find it difficult to read your website’s text. It is thus vital that you make use of standardized fonts in basic colors to sustain their interest.
Your ecommerce website should have a well defined layout and should be properly organized into different sections so that it is easier to navigate and customers can retrieve the required information quickly and easily. Everything should be categorized into different relevant headings so that all customers can figure out the elements present in your website and use them to make purchases. It is also imperative that you provide a FAQ section to answer frequently asked questions and queries of customers. This helps make your website more user friendly and hassle free. For answers that cannot be found in this section, there also needs to be a “contact us” section so as to be able to get in touch with your company for addressing other grievances of customers.
If you are planning to start a eCommerce website or thinking of revamping your existing website, then feel free to contact us on our Toll Free no – (800) 236-1497. We at Centex Technologies (Offices – Dallas & Killeen Tx) create user friendly ecommerce websites for our clients across the globe.
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