In recent times, people have starting taking their payments into their own hands. This trend can be seen across the Internet and physical stores. This presents new security risks that companies are struggling to deal with. The platforms that people are using are becoming increasingly compromised. But, they’re also becoming more popular. In some cases, businesses are avoiding banks altogether. And, this presents problems with more than just security. To give you an idea of how this is changing business; this post will be going through some of the different ways that businesses are dealing with payments.
Most of this activity is happening online. With new payment gateways becoming available, that allow businesses to host their own baskets and payment pages; business have more freedom than ever. Nowadays, it’s possible for a business to control their payment process right until the details are sent off. Of course, they should never see the details. But, this doesn’t stop the potential for them to be leaked. A traditional service like Entrust eliminates this issue; but storing the data using their own systems. Along with this, people have stopped using banks altogether; to get their payments. Decentralised cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have become very popular over the last few years. These currencies are self-managing and present their own risks.
The risks that cryptocurrencies present grow when you consider that they’re also being used in physical stores. These currencies are designed to be untraceable. And, they don’t leave a paper trail like traditional money does. This makes it risky for consumers to use the currency because they don’t have the resources to fight back if something goes wrong with their purchase. Having stores that accept this sort of currency also makes it hard for the government that represents them to take tax from them. When money isn’t traceable; it’s impossible to prove that a business is earning money. Of course, they will have the launder the money if they want to use it in most places. But, it still presents issues for governments who haven’t updated with the times, yet.
There are loads of services out there that make this possible for a company. A service like Braintree can cover everything. But, that doesn’t mean that you should be jumping on-board with them. Having to take care of security by yourself leaves you vulnerable to lawsuits and theft. So, it’s worth making sure that you put in the effort and time to find services that handle things for you. Plus, taking these things into your own hands will only mean more work. The services that offer this kind of support will usually also require that your website be secure. But, this only meets the barest standards of security, like SSL. And, will not include the security that you apply to your forms and pages.
Hopefully, this will make your payment systems easier to manage, and more security conscious. It’s important to be aware of how companies are dealing with your money. When information is leaked; it can be hard to recover from the fallout.
