If you are willing to set up an online shopping cart, you need to look for one that offers a secure payment system. Customers may be willing to make payments through various means including credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal accounts. Whichever system the customer uses, you should offer a completely safe choice. Shopify is one of those online store builders which offer completely secure and reliable payment systems.
Security is inherent in any shopping cart made with Shopify
The Shopify shopping cart is compliant with level 1 of PCI standard. This means that all the stores powered by Shopify are hosted securely and the credit/debit card data are encrypted and secure. Achieving this compliance standard is an achievement in itself in the world of online payments. Nevertheless, you need to comply with this standard in order to accept payments from MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover Credit Cards etc. Having an SSL Certificate is one of the basic requirements of a PCI standard. Shopify uses a 256-bit SSL encryption technology to comply with PCI standards.
SSL encryption is the backbone of any secure network since it protects sensitive data traveling across the network. In fact, you need to implement SSL in your website in order to just protect it from various attacks, even if it does not handle sensitive information. It offers privacy, security, and integrity not only to your shopping cart but also to personal information shared by users through it.
Let us see how it offers security.
The technology encrypts data in such a way that only the intended recipient can make use of it. The information shared by a user through his or her card travels across networks and servers to reach the destination server. If the message is not encrypted, any computer or server in any of the networks can snoop on sensitive information like credit card numbers, passwords, usernames etc. If a shopping cart implements an SSL certificate, sensitive information shared by customers becomes inaccessible to everybody except the server to which the information is intended. This way an SSL certificate can protect sensitive data from identity theft and hacking.
It’s not just about encryption of data, but also authentication of data. The customer can be sure that he or she is sending information to the right server and not to an identity thief. Since customers can access your shopping cart from different computers and hand-held devices, there is a risk that other legitimate or illegitimate users of these computers and devices may pretend the website or page to be yours and trick customers or users into sending personal and sensitive information. Only if the website uses a properly configured Public Key Infrastructure and acquires an SSL Certificate from a trusted SSL certification provider can it offer authentication of users?
A trusted SSL provider provides an SSL certificate only to a verified company after going through several identity checks of the company. This is important since rogue elements may use this certificate to hide data about criminal activities from authorities. An identity check is important for this reason. Some other kinds of SSL certificates like EV SSL Certificate necessitate more identity checks than others. How do you know if an SSL certificate provider is trusted or not? It is not your task to decide. It is the web browser creators who verify if SSL certificate providers are following laid down practices and are audited by a reputed third-party auditor or not.
Visitors trust certain icons, such as the green bar in any shopping cart built on Shopify. These icons convince them that they can share their data without fear. SSL technology provides that seal of trust. Though SSL technology is expensive to procure, you can get it for free from Shopify, as a part of your package with them. In fact, the hosting plans of Shopify include SSL technology. You don’t need to buy it for an additional cost.
The HTTPS protocol is a secure protocol used by websites to prevent phishing attacks. These attacks are launched by criminals who try to impersonate your website. Emails sent by them include a link to their website. The saving grace is that these criminals cannot procure SSL certificates. This is why they are not able to perfectly look like your shopping cart. The seal of trust is missing.
Shopify platforms can also integrate with hundreds of payment gateways. You can choose from gateways like Valitor, Wirecard, Zip, Paysafe, Paystack, FuturePay etc. This helps in expanding the scope of payment to a very large base of customers with diverse payment types, languages and currencies.
