A friend allows you to borrow their brand new Camaro. Realizing that you are the one who will be responsible for it while it is in your care, you devise a way to show your friend how you are going to protect their sports car so that they will be confident of your protecting it, resulting in most of their skepticism vanishing. Next week, we will look at how your friend, as the owner of the Camaro, can put up securities to ensure you are doing what is right when it is in your possession.
It is the same with merchants who are responsible for their customers’ money, checking accounts, and all of their personal information through Digital Payments. Some customers may be skeptical about either the process itself or about the merchant company that provides the service in general; therefore, it is up to the company to gain their customer’s trust as they go through the process of being the one responsible. They must show their customers that they care about their customer’s safety and are willing to put up securities in order to protect their customer’s assets and information.
Companies have a number of ways of setting up protections for their customers. For example, by using automated systems to process checks and online payments, the possibility of deception, scams, miscalculations, or simple mistakes can be reduced, if not fully avoided. Companies also “maintain, monitor, and check files against negative account databases that store information about individuals or companies that have past records of fraud to help decrease fraudulent activity. (Intuit Merchant Service)”
Validating whether the customer providing payment information has the right to disclose such information is done through a number of different processes. This in turn gives the customer a better sense of security that the company realizes the potential of frauds attempting to gain access to their information and have taken action to prevent such occurrences.
First, a company can put into action a Digital Signature system. This prevents numerous types of programs that are designed to hack into unsecured databases. “Digital signatures cannot be easily tampered with or imitated and are easily transportable, thereby making them a reliable method for verifying identity when implemented correctly. (Intuit Merchant Service)” Forged digital signatures are highly uncommon, making the Digital Signature system trustworthy.
A second way a company can validate that the informant is authentic is through a Public Key Cryptography system. Through this technique of security, a customer would be asked to either reiterate a phrase or pattern of letters/numbers given. This process requires that the customer engage in doing what is asked, making the system more secure.
Another example of how a company could be more secure is by making separate divisions for certain age groups. By grouping ages together, it would make it easier for the company to keep track of their customers. This creates a security “check point” that customers have to go through. If there is a report of an unqualified “client” attempting to get into an account, the company will be notified and will be able to see whether it is an attempted hack (Schoenmakers, Berry).
Citations
Intuit Merchant Service. Intuit, Inc, 2013. Web. 4 Oct. 2013. <http://payments.intuit.com/resources/facts-about-electronic-checks.jsp>.
Schoenmakers, Berry. TU/: University of Technology. Basic Security of the ecash Payment System. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.win.tue.nl/~berry/papers/cosic.pdf>.
You're right concerning how companies must gain customers' trust when it comes to online payments; except it's a lot harder than gaining your friend's trust. It's more similar to letting a complete stranger borrow your car to practice drag racing. For the most part it turns out ok, yet it still worries you since you're less sure he won't wreck. People trust websites like Amazon and Ebay because they haven't heard too much of people using the websites to hack into their financials. But if I go to a sketchy, individually owed website, it seems much riskier to pay online even if she uses another company's payment software. Not only should businesses put in place security options like you've mentioned, but they must provide a written statement stressing the safety and offering solution if anything does happen.
ReplyDeleteI agree that security is an issue and that the company needs to ease our minds so we trust them enough to place our financial information on there website. I think there is just as much of a risk through the mail or over the phone. Mail not getting delivered to the wrong address or when the phone lines were more like a party line. I don't think we will ever be 100% safe regarding our secure financial data.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I use many of the same websites over and over again. Three of the main websites being Amazon, Ebay, and Discover. Amazon has always been pretty good at having a high security system and I personally have never had any trouble out of them. Every time I use Ebay I checkout through Paypal, which once again I have had no problem out of them either but I'm aware there is always a chance of fraud occurring. I have used a "Public Key Cryptography" quite a bit I think because almost every time I have bought a ticket I have had to do something like this. Whether it is claiming/ requesting a ticket at UNC Charlotte for a football game or buying a ticket from Braves.com to go to a braves game, I'm always asked to validate that I'm not a machine or system trying to hack the system.
ReplyDeleteI thought the digital signature concept of making online purchases more secure is pretty great. However, it does not currently seem practical. For starters, not everyone has the proper software and hardware available to write a digital signature the same way you would physically write your signature on a piece of paper. Perhaps with the growing popularity of labtops and other touch screen computer, we will this type of functionality more commonly.
ReplyDeleteLuis, thanks for your thoughts! I agree with you on the fact that not everyone has the proper software/hardware for certain digital signatures. On the other hand, there are still ways to obtain a digital signature without having to purchase or add-on something to your computer. There are documents that I have personally signed digitally simply using my curser to "draw" my name. Although it was not easy or very neatly done, it was still effective.
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