Security of Digital Payments

[Name of the Institute]

Security of Digital Payments

Introduction

The number of transactions, both of private and corporate, has been done electronically over the period of time, and is also gaining it grounds. As a matter of fact, the reviews of users depict flexibility as well as efficient using such kinds of transactional methods (Rajvanshi et. al., 2012). This, however; is further endorsing the concept of digital payments. Along with that, the technical progress, such as that of related to smart cards, and ever new development in the sector of cryptology, has even enhanced the level of digital security to many layers. The global consumer base cannot purchase the relevant services and products from the online stores, and then make payments through cash basis (Camenisch et. al., 2000). This process would only serve as a hindrance to the commerce business industry. From the strategic point of view, the notion of digital payments has paved the way for many of the ventures to flourish. However, considering this, the paper focuses over the security of digital payments from strategic context.

Discussion

The contemporary model of digital payments inculcates there entities within it, which are, the bank, short and the customers itself. As a matter of fact, there are three types of transactional methods which work within such a kind of system (Al-Gahtani, 2011). These types are, cash withdrawal by a customer using bank, payment for the goods or services purchased, and finally, the deposit using both of the institutions - bank and shop. From a conventional accounting view, the account of customer is debited during the deposit while that of shop is credit using the same (Urbano etl al., 2012). Over the period of time, the concerns pertaining to the digital payments have been increased due to several factors. Among them, the pivotal is when the basis of transactions is anonymous, where the banks as well as individual entities remain uninformed. The payments occur at an unobservable basis, where the banks or the relevant corporate entities cannot ascertain the end service user.

Secure digital payment methods

While talking about the secure methods of making transactions online, the thing which clicks the mind, at the outset, is the credit cards. The prime reason behind such an agenda is its wide scale usage for most of the online purchases (Crowe et. al., 2010). At the same time, it is also pertinent to know that such kind of payment method, in most of the countries, are still considered insecure, yet the customers rather opt for alternative methods (Dodson et .al., 2012). Such kind of alternate payment methods usually charge certain flat fee, which is meager in amount if compared to the security provided, yet is a great solace to mind considering the security of payments (Bamasak, 2011). Among such kind of payment methods, it is necessary to have certain security measure which can strengthen the overall level of security. However, in that regard, the role of public key infrastructure (PKI), digital signatures, encryption of credit card through SSL, ...