Did you ever imagine that payment gateways in your life would be so omnipresent? Possibly not. And yet, we are here. Today, each time you make a digital payment, you run into a payment gateway. When you pay Rs 100 for food or buy an iPhone worth a lakh from an e-commerce service, you connect with a payment gateway.
Without a doubt, payment gateways made online purchases very convenient. But when they pay online, many customers usually face some sort of anxiety. Even if we believe that the transaction will be safe, when we enter our card or bank details, there is always a doubt at the back of our minds. It’s after all our hard-earned money on the line.
Nevertheless, as digital payments are not going anywhere but up in terms of usage, let’s understand how secure your online transactions are and what exactly a portal of payment is doing with your data.
Encryption through PCI-DSS Compliance:
First things first, a payment gateway does not store the data as is. The best payment gateways are PCI-DSS compliant. The PCI Security Standards Council is a global organization that sets security guidelines on all online payment processes for the protection of cardholder data. PCI-DSS is a global online security standard. To you, this ensures that your electronic transactions are encrypted to ensure that there is no interception of data.
In simple words, a payment gateway doesn’t store your sensitive information like name, card number, pin, password & CVV. It only uses it for completing the transaction.
HTTPS for High Security:
Data security begins the moment you land on the website. A payment gateway uses the highest SSL certificate authentication, which enables the data to be authenticated by TLS. It might sound a bit tricky, but in simple words, you just have to look for the website. A website with https:// is a secure website.
Today, most e-commerce companies work with secure payment gateways to make sure their customers ‘ data is not compromised. You can also test whether or not the website or payment gateway page is safe by searching for https:/ in the URL, but in addition to understanding how payment gateways provide protection, let’s look at something called tokenization.
Tokenization:
While making the payment you enter the 16-digit number. The payment gateway substitutes the 16-digit number with a single token. This token is a set of random characters to replace the 16-digit number of your card. It allows the authentication of payment without revealing sensitive details. Cards are assigned randomly, making the actual card number from the token incredibly difficult to reverse-engineer.
In conclusion, payment gateways and online transactions in today’s world are by and large safer. You can go ahead and digitally transact with proper peace of mind. Only make sure you keep your eyes wide open so you don’t slip into traps.
