We hear about them too often: data breaches where credit card information stored online is accessible to hackers. According to IBM Security’s 2019 Data Breach Report, the average cost of a breach for organizations is $3.9 million, with healthcare being the most costly industry. This can deter some small businesses from wanting to modernize their payment process to an online solution. But we’ll share how payment gateways, like PayGround, can actually help keep your payment process more secure so data breaches can be prevented.

Payment Gateway Security Features

Security concerns are among the top reasons consumers avoid online payments. That’s why it’s important as a small business owner to implement a high-quality payment gateway. This can help you offer your customers, clients or patients a payment processing option that protects their data from vulnerabilities that attract thieves.  When considering a payment gateway for your business, here are some of the security features it should provide.

PCI Compliance

When selecting a payment gateway for your business or healthcare practice, it’s important to find one that provides PCI compliance guidance and support. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) are a set of guidelines to help merchants and financial institutions provide secure payment solutions. If your payment gateway doesn’t come with PCI-compliant data protection, then you‘re opening yourself up to thieves and hackers.

A payment gateway like PayGround offers you best-in-class PCI compliance support, in fact we have the highest security ratings in the industry.

Data Encryption

Data encryption is one of the most common ways payment gateways prevent hackers from getting a hold of consumer data. Payment gateways mask the data by creating their own code to turn consumer information into a message that can only be decrypted and read privately, by those who need to see it.

Tokenization

Unlike encryption’s mathematical formula, tokenization is a random method to secure data. Tokenization is when an actual credit card number is replaced with a randomly generated character. This “token,” or code, can’t be traced back to the cardholder. That way, if there is a data breach, thieves won’t be able to decode the characters into any real card numbers. A database, called a token vault, stores the real information and the code. 

Hashing

Hashing is a one-way process, where an algorithm transforms raw data into a string of alphanumeric characters that are unreadable, called a hash code or value. The process cannot be reversed.

There are many common hashing algorithms. PayGround uses what’s called a SHA-512 hash. This hashing algorithm ensures none of the sensitive request or response data is subjected to a “man-in-the-middle” attack. This is achieved by including all the sensitive fields into a string, which varies per request type, along with the shared secret. This is then sent over a secure Security Socket Layer (SSL) connection.  

Anti-Fraud Tools

Your payment gateway should provide you and your consumers with the highest quality protection and effective anti-fraud tools. These tools make it easier for businesses to not only prevent and eliminate suspected fraudulent activities, but also provide the support you need to fix the situation quickly. PayGround offers you exceptional support to protect your business and your customers’ information.

Make PayGround Your Payment Gateway Solution

When it comes to protecting your business with a payment gateway, PayGround has you covered better than any other platform. If you experience a data breach, PayGround will provide step-by-step support at no extra cost so you can protect your reputation and your customers’ information. Are you ready to upgrade your payment system? Contact us to learn more.