Four New Credit Card Technologies Every ISO and Merchant Should Be Familiar With

As a merchant you should keep up to date with new credit card technologies because when it comes to online payments, ease of use and security directly impact sales.

Keeping up with advancements in technology, regardless of the industry, can be difficult. As a merchant, new payment gateway integrations are one area that you don’t want to get left behind, because providing security for your customers when it comes to credit card transactions is (or should be) a top priority.

A study conducted by Statistia showed that 17% of shoppers don’t purchase because they are concerned about security. In a test published by Get Elastic, an online retailer found that by placing a security badge on their site sales increased 4-6%.

Whether you’re a merchant or an ISO, these are four new developments with credit card technology that you should be familiar with, and should be working to implement.

EMV Cards

One of the biggest vulnerabilities with credit card fraud is when thieves get access to magstripe data.

The data on the black stripe on the back of the card is totally unprotected: anyone who has the means to acquire it and keep it has access to your name, the card number, and everything else on the card. That makes it easy to clone the card or use it in online transactions. So whether the thief has uploaded malware to a store’s POS to skim the card numbers, or whether they’ve fooled you into swiping on a device they own, once they have the data, there’s nothing keeping them from using it.

EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa) chips are a big step forward in defending against this. Rather than protect against theft, the code programmed into an EMV chip seeks to make any stolen data useless for the thief. The way it does this is called tokenization: rather than transmitting the card information like the magstripe, the chip creates a one-time transaction code that isn’t good for any other purchase. That means that even if there is a data breach, the thief will be denied if they try to use the code at any other POS or online merchant (or even the same merchant, since it’s a different transaction).

RFID Cards

This is where touchless payments began. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, and it allows a card or device to identify itself and make a transaction without physical contact over a short distance. It uses the same tokenization as EMV (as do the other payment technologies on this list), as well as encryption for the transmission, making it harder to steal. Combine that with the short effective range, and it’s much more secure than regular cards.

Mobile Wallets

Adapting the RFID technology (and NFC with later models), phones have started replacing cards for many, as it consolidates them into a single device. Using the touchless technology, consumers can upload their card information into their phone, and it functions the same way a chip would, encryption, tokenization, and all. Then the only real risk is losing your phone.

NFC

Near Field Communication is the upgrade to RFID. It allows for more secure and more reliable touchless payments, ensuring that payments are as easy and safe as currently possible.

If you’re launching a new online business, here is a helpful chart of the top eCommerce payment gateways:

Be sure you’re familiar with these new technologies, and new developments as they come. The more you can keep up with new security measures, the more you can protect your clients and customers from fraud.