A Guarding Against Hacks in Payment Gateway: Exploring the Strength of 3D Secure

The more online payment becomes innovative and convenient for users, the more likely it is to be exposed to cyber threats. That’s why the new proactive measure to protect against potential payment gateway hacking threats, 3D Secure (Three Domains Secure), was born to prevent unauthorized access and reduce the risk of fraudulent activities, contributing to a more secure payment environment.

With only a tiny loophole in the payment process, all of the private data of both buyers and sellers can be stolen, and in the worst case, this leads to huge damage to the payment system itself and similar payment gateway architectures as well. Though designed and integrated with advanced technologies, AI algorithms, high-end internet infrastructure, and security features, your payment gateway is still vulnerable.

The 3D Secure feature adds one more layer of protection and significantly enhances the security of payment transactions.

Your Payment Gateway Is Indeed Vulnerable Without 3DS

Despite being told to be a fast and convenient payment method that brings businesses’ vision and strategy to another level, payment gateways are indeed vulnerable for they relate to financial issues and have many checkpoints where digital money and private information (though encrypted) can be stolen. 

Not one or two loopholes, there are many ways that your payment gateway can get unauthorized access.

Insecure data transmission: If data is transmitted between the user, browser, and payment gateway without proper encryption (e.g., SSL/TLS), it becomes susceptible to interception, potentially exposing sensitive information during transit.

Week authentication: Weak or compromised authentication mechanisms can allow unauthorized access to the payment gateway. This includes weak passwords, inadequate multi-factor authentication, or improper access controls.

Outdated software and security patches: Running outdated software or failing to apply security patches promptly can leave the payment gateway system easily hacked and vulnerable to known exploits. Regular updates are crucial for addressing newly discovered vulnerabilities.

Accounts and passwords get stolen: One of the worst-case scenarios that could happen with an account is that the password to unlock it gets stolen. And when that is the case, without a third layer of security, the damage is unpredictably huge, including all of the money will be gone.

Insufficient Rate Limiting and Session Management: Lack of proper rate limiting and session management can lead to brute-force attacks, where attackers attempt multiple login attempts to gain unauthorized access.

Those are only a few popular situations in which your payment gateway in particular and your whole operation in general could be damaged. Aside from the above threats, if you’re still using a 2D Secure payment gateway, you can encounter far worse security issues with your transactions, check out our article to inspect how a 3D payment gateway is better than a 2DS one.

If you are lucky enough to not have met these situations before, then you will need to have a plan about what to do and prepare for them right now, for you have no experience in these matters. So, it’s important to detect any mistakes and loopholes in your plan.

The 3D Secure feature makes sure every transaction made will be protected from any unauthorized access.

How To Timely Detect Loopholes In Your Payment Gateway Security And Fix Them

Timely detection of remediation of loopholes in payment gateway security is crucial to maintaining a defense against potential payment gateway hacking threats. The steps below demonstrate how we can at least minimize the damages that could potentially happen to your payment systems with fundamental tasks.

Regular security audits

Frequently conducting regular security audits of your payment gateway system can significantly find any tiny loopholes and minimize them. This includes both automated and manual assessments to identify vulnerabilities. In addition, let’s utilize tools like vulnerability scanners and penetration testing to uncover potential weaknesses.

Besides, remember to keep your system up to date with the latest security patches.

Real-time monitoring

Besides regular checkout, real-time monitoring of your system also plays an important role in the timely detection of suspicious activities. Just set up alerts for any unusual behavior, and utilize monitoring tools.

Implement a 3D Secure feature

The 3D Secure feature helps add one more security layer to your verification steps before the transactions are launched. This enhances the security of the payment process, especially in 2D and 3D payment gateway systems, so significantly that most of the biggest payment gateway service providers now implement the feature into their systems as well. Action Steps:

• Integrate 3D Secure features into your payment gateway.
• Require additional user authentication for online transactions.

3D Secure is a fast and easy yet powerful data protection that is favored by most of the payment gateway providers now.

Know your customer care number

The above options are preparation for the worst-case scenario. However, no matter how well you plan and prepare for it, there is still a tiny chance that your payment gateway can get hacked. When this is the case, the most ideal solution is to call for security experts. So, knowing your payment gateway customer care number is crucial for your business. Engaging external security experts to assess and improve your system's security is now more important than trying to solve everything by yourself. Action steps:

Have a backup plan

Develop a comprehensive incident response and disaster recovery plan. Action Steps:

• Define clear procedures for detecting and responding to security incidents.
• Regularly test recovery procedures.

By combining these measures, you create a robust security framework for your payment gateway. Regularly reassess and update your security practices to adapt to evolving threats and industry standards.

Security is a multifaceted challenge, in which 3D Secure somehow minimizes the chance of your payment gateway being hacked.

Recent High-Profile Data Breach & Lessons Learnt

Based on the most recent cyber attack relating to the payment gateway system, Target company is a huge case being a warning message for online business owners. Due to being attacked and stolen financial and personal information of its more than 110 million customers, Target had to spend a fortune of $200 million just to start replacing customers' payment cards, according to the US Consumer Bankers Association (CBA). That huge loss was later analyzed to be rooted in 4 issues. 

First, Target provided network access to a 3rd party vendor who did not follow the industry standards for protecting data, which allowed the hackers to enter Target’s network

Second, Target ignored numerous automated warnings from its data protection software.

Third, hackers have been found starting from less sensitive to highly sensitive areas storing consumer data, which indicates that most sensitive data networks are not probably protected by Target.

Fourth, Target failed to respond to its warning systems indicating the “escape routes” the hackers planned on exploiting to steal the data from the network.

So, what are the lessons learned from Target’s case?

1. Make a commitment agreement on security

Your commitment only is not strong enough to protect your confidential data, since a payment gateway system involves 2-3 parties, the agreement on data security and payment gateway licenses should be made before anything for all sides’ benefit.

2. Trust your system

Always be aware of warning messages and software update reminders from your systems. Hackers need only one loophole in your security system to start the whole damage. 

3. Always be alert

Be alert of any suspicious messages and pop-up dialogs even from your own system, avoiding all data refilling requests that have different templates and styles to your current theme of system. 

4. Have a strong enough security system

Find the most reliable security system you can afford for your payment gateway system. Many companies discover it to be more cost-effective to invest in public relations efforts that highlight strong security measures, endure occasional negative media attention and legal challenges when their claims are debunked, and address issues only after they gain public visibility.

Get rid of those ideas and start to find a payment gateway provider with a priority on data security like PayCEC.

How PayCEC 3D Security Feature Minimize The Chance of Your Payment Gateway Being Hacked

PayCEC’s priority is protecting seller partners and their customers’ private data in online space, for they entrust PayCEC with all of their confidential information. The 3D Secure feature is what the company has decided to bring to its system, for further payment authentication and extra fraud protection to keep card information secure, as well as to minimize the risk of your payment gateway being hacked. By prioritizing the PayCEC 3D Secure feature for your payment gateway, businesses can enhance their cybersecurity posture and safeguard sensitive financial information from potential breaches.

Advanced security features for payment gateways are crucial in the face of escalating cyber threats.

Advanced security features for payment gateways are crucial in the face of escalating cyber threats. These measures, encompassing encryption, multi-factor authentication, and real-time fraud detection, are essential for protecting sensitive customer data, ensuring compliance, and maintaining trust. By adopting these robust security protocols, payment gateways can mitigate financial risks, prevent unauthorized access, and uphold a positive reputation in our increasingly digitalized world.

Cybersecurity is critically important in online payment. When individuals and businesses engage in online transactions, they entrust sensitive financial information to digital platforms. Without robust cybersecurity measures, there is a significant risk of that information being compromised, leading to financial loss, identity theft, and other forms of fraud. With PayCEC’s dynamic 3D Secure feature, your customer drop-off rate decreases, and your conversion rate increases.

About PayCEC

PayCEC was established in response to the growing need for businesses to accept online payments more quickly and easily. In the new media era, our payment flow has evolved to work seamlessly and effectively across all platforms and devices. We pride ourselves on combining superior technology with first-class customer service.

PayCEC is a truly global payment platform that not only allows customers to get paid but also withdraw funds to their business accounts in various currencies.

We have created an open and secure payments ecosystem that people and businesses choose to securely transact with each other online and on mobile devices.

PayCEC Team

• [email protected]
• +65 6631 8332
• www.paycec.com