The best website security solution

Hackers tend to target small and medium-size businesses because they typically don’t have any security measures in place. Using advanced techniques, they find weaknesses in your website, placing malware which can rapidly spread viruses, steal information, and hijack computers or sites. This can damage your business’s reputation and could result in it being blacklisted by search engines and spam lists.

How to secure my website

We can help you prevent, detect and recover from different types of security threats to keep your customers’ data safe. Website security needs constant monitoring and updates. Let us focus do it for you so you can focus on what you do best.

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With you on your online journey

With you on your online journey

The art of protecting your website from security threats and securing your customers’ data is not just good business practice, it’s essential for online business success. With our website protection, you’ll be able to defend your website and show your customers that you’re the real deal.

PROTECT YOUR WEBSITE
Helping 500,000 small businesses get online

Helping 500,000 small businesses get online

We’ve been providing website protection and helping Australian businesses secure their websites since 1997. Once your site is secure with us, we can also help you take care of email, hosting and website design, and help you drive more traffic to your secure site with online marketing.

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SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. When you send and receive information on the internet (submitting online forms, posting messages on websites) it is often insecure — data transmitted is un-encrypted and sent “as is”. This means that during transmission of this data it can be intercepted maliciously and the data used in any way.

SSL is a way of encrypting data sent over the internet. This means that before the data is sent it is encrypted in a way that makes it unreadable if intercepted. When it comes to sensitive information such as personal details, usernames and passwords or credit card details the use of SSL is imperative. Ensuring that sensitive data is encrypted using SSL makes it virtually impossible for it to be stolen and used without your consent. Once the information reaches its destination it can then be decrypted and read as normal.

Secure Sockets Layer technology requires the use of an SSL certificate. SSL certificates are granted by certified providers on a per domain name basis. SSL certificates are usually incorporated into eCommerce websites to protect credit card details and user data, but are also found where personal details or usernames and passwords need to be entered.

The technical side of SSL involves complex cryptography to encrypt the data before being sent and decrypt the data on arrival. Find out more about how SSL works.

Online payments are made thousands of times per second all over the world. There are hundreds of different ways these payments are made, including PayPal and EFT transactions, but a large proportion are based on payment gateway technology. A payment gateway allows a connection directly between a website and a bank, meaning that payments can be placed directly on a website and deposited straight into a bank account.

A payment gateway is a server that is dedicated to linking websites and banks so that online credit card transactions can be completed in real time.

How does a payment gateway work?

Payment gateways work by providing the secure, integral link between a website (web server) and the bank. When credit card details are submitted on a website the payment gateway receives these details and sends them to the bank for verification. The bank then replies with a response; usually either accepted or declined. The payment gateway then sends this response back to the web server when the appropriate message is displayed to the user — for example “Your payment has been successful”.

The actual process is a lot more complex than this, you can read more on payment gateway here.

How to secure a payment gateway?

If you are looking at accepting real-time credit cards on your website then a payment gateway is required. There are three main requirements for a payment gateway to work:

  1. A website that meets the security and eligibility requirements for the bank to issue a merchant account
  2. A merchant account from a bank. A merchant account is a special kind of bank account that can be linked directly to a payment gateway. These bank accounts are issued only upon review of a website to ensure it meets privacy and security requirements. Requirements often include an SSL certificate and a privacy policy.
  3. A payment gateway provider. Payment gateway providers offer the server that acts as the link between your website and the bank. The server has a very special configuration and a very high level of security due to the sensitive nature of the data being transferred.

Once all three requirements are met, the payment gateway then needs to be connected to the website and to the merchant account. This will then allow for real-time credit card processing.

What are the benefits?

By incorporating a payment gateway into your eCommerce website you can ensure you are providing the easiest and most streamlined buying experience for your customers. The easier it is to buy from your online store the more likely visitors are to purchase.

A payment gateway is beneficial for a few reasons:

Visitors stay on site: Many websites will take advantage of third party or hosted payment processing facilities such as PayPal. These facilities do work well and can provide secure payment options, however they do have draw backs. A major advantage of using a payment gateway is that customers will not leave your website to make payment. All user information and credit card details are input on your website meaning fewer steps for the buyer. Further to this, re-directing users to a separate website for payment often leads to mistrust and payment abandonments.

Real time transactions and payments: Utilising a payment gateway allows you to accept credit cards directly on your website, but also means that these credit card transactions are processed in real time. Real-time transactions mean that you as the merchant get paid immediately and that the customers get instant feedback as to whether their payment has been accepted or declined.

Saves time and reduces administration: A payment gateway saves time with the fact that credit cards are processed in real time and funds are deposited directly into a merchant account. A payment gateway removes the need for manual card processing or third-party account consolidation.

PayPal is a third party service that allows businesses and online merchants to pay, send money, and accept payments online without the need for a payment gateway. PayPal’s service is secure and protected by SSL to ensure that all sensitive data is protected.

How does PayPal work?

To start using PayPal to accept payments on your website you first require a PayPal account. Signing up for a standard business PayPal account is free. Once you have an account created there are multiple ways PayPal can be integrated into your website.

Once PayPal has been integrated into your website customers can start making payments to you using the PayPal interface. The basic set up looks like:

  1. Customers choose a product or service from your website.
  2. The checkout process is completed on your website, for example all address details and personal information is entered on your website.
  3. At the final payment page customers can choose to pay via PayPal.
  4. With the free PayPal account customers are then redirected to paypal.com where they re-enter some personal details and can make payment either via credit card, or (if they have a PayPal account themselves) via PayPal credit.
  5. Once payment is completed customers are redirected back to your website.

What are the pros and cons of PayPal?

PayPal offers an easy way to start accepting payments online without the need for a payment gateway or hosted payment page. However there are a few disadvantages of using PayPal as your payment processing facility.

  1. Customers are redirected from your website to PayPal to make payment. This results in an additional step in the checkout process.
  2. Often personal details will need to be re-entered, resulting in customers having to enter their details twice — this make the checkout process slower.
  3. PayPal takes a small percentage of each transaction completed via their service. The amount they take is dependent on the volume of sales that are processed through PayPal.

On the flip side of this, PayPal does have some advantages and it’s often a good idea to offer PayPal as an alternative payment method for customers.

  1. PayPal is a well-known payment service — they are trusted and recognised by a lot of online shoppers meaning that there is little to no reluctance to use the service.
  2. PayPal offers a highly secure service. Due to the massive number of transactions processed and the sensitive nature of the data PayPal deal with, only the highest level of security is appropriate.
  3. PayPal is easy to set up and easy for customers to use. Once a customer has a PayPal account they can easily use this for multiple eCommerce websites, making their online shopping experience very efficient.