E-commerce security protocols are no joke. According to a Symantec study in the United States, consumers lost $19.4 billion from cyber attacks in 2017.
Underestimating the importance of cybersecurity comes at a very, very high price. A good example can be found in the company TalkTalk. In 2015 it was forced to invest 50 million pounds in the recovery of its systems after suffering a cyber attack. But money was the least of all: up to 100,000 customers stopped using their services. Wouldn’t it have been easier to protect yourself against cyber attacks?
But what are the most widely used e-commerce security protocols? The installation of SSL and SET certificates or obtaining the HTTPS protocol stand out among the most commonly used measures. Do you want to know them in depth?
What are the most important e-commerce security protocols?
Security and encryption in e-commerce is a growing need among companies and marketplaces. A Check Point report assured that cybercrime will remain constant in 2019, but that its attacks will be more sophisticated and intelligent.
Encryption is one of the most effective methods of improving cybersecurity. With the first option, sensitive customer information (user names, passwords, bank details, etc.) can be protected through encryption. This process is not easy to explain but can be summed up in the use of a unique code, which allows the recipient and recipient to decrypt the data needed in the transaction. In this way, the theft of such data makes no sense to cybercriminals, who will not be able to decipher them.
Another excellent resource for optimising security in e-commerce are security certificates. We are talking about digital identification, capable of verifying the identity of users, as well as their “humanity” (most cyber attacks are perpetrated by bots). SSL and SET certificates are the most widely used and are worth studying in depth.
SSL: infallible protection in online data transfer
Also known as Secure Sockets Layer, this security certificate has become one of the must of the internet. It is used by both large companies and minority bloggers. Its purpose is to protect your data transactions between a website (provider) and its visitors (recipients).
Identifying sites with SSL certificates is easy: a green padlock appears in the browser, indicating to users that all their data is secure. However, creating a secure SSL connection requires the hosting server to have a pre-installed SSL certificate. Fortunately for those interested, these certificates have a very low cost. Some hosting providers even offer the free installation of Let’s Encrypt and other SSL software.
SET: security plus for your monetary transactions
And if you’re wondering what secure e-commerce payment protocol you should implement, SET is an excellent answer. The initials of this protocol correspond to Secure Electronic Transaction. As its name indicates, it is a system to guarantee the security of monetary transactions in digital environments.
The operation of SET is simple. Generally speaking, this protocol provides a series of certificates and digital signatures between the consumer, the company and the banking entity, which regulate the monetary transaction from its beginning to its end. Considering that it was created by Visa and MasterCard in collaboration with giants such as Microsoft, IBM or Netscape, the effectiveness of the SET protocol should not surprise us.
TLS: the big brother of the SSL certificate
The TLS or Transport Layer Security certificate is an evolution of the aforementioned SSL. Its objective is to provide secure connections by encrypting data sent between two parties. This certificate is mainly used in e-mail environments and is not incompatible with its predecessor (in fact, they can be reconciled).
Netscape created the SSL protocol, and later the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) developed the TLS. As you may have noticed, both certificates work in a similar way, but they are not the same: the algorithms of the TSL certificate are more solid and versatile than those of its predecessor.
HTTPS: adding a security layer to the classic HTTP
When we talk about HTTPS we mean Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. This protocol is an evolution of the HTTP, which incorporates an extra layer of security to the data that are sent in SSL or TLS connections. Today most digital enterprises are carried out with HTTPS protocols, instead of HTTP, created by Eric Rescorla and Allan M. Schiffman in 1999, which are on the way to disappear.
Due to the growing number of cyber attacks, the use of the HTTPS protocol has become widespread since 2018. This is due to the fact that the previous HTTP had greater weaknesses and was not as secure. Specialists recommend the use of HTTPS, but in some cases the S-HTTP protocol may be needed.
Any of these e-commerce security protocols is a safe bet to shield your business from phishing, malware, online fraud and other cyber attacks. Its objective is not to avoid monetary losses derived from an attack: it is to avoid the loss of customer confidence.
Customer trust is everything for an e-commerce.