Apps have taken over the world. It is not an exaggeration, just a fact of modern-day life. We have apps that help us shop, order food, monitor our health and even control the temperature of the air-conditioner in the room! But perhaps, the most important apps we use are Payment applications. Digital money has transformed our lives for the better. Your smartphone is now your wallet and much more.

It is a good idea for businesses venturing into the world of app development to ponder over creating their own payment apps. The market has a number of successfully running payment applications that have replaced cash-in-hand in commerce. Though, there are a few items that you need to tick-off from your list if you want to develop your own secure Payment App.

Here is the checklist to creating a secure and safe payment app:

The PCI:

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council or PCI SSC was created by international payment network heavyweights including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB in 2006. The PCI issues recommendations or standards seeking to safeguard against credit card fraud.

The latest guidelines dubbed PCI 3.0 necessitate browser-based checkouts to outsource data storage of cardholder data to PCI standard validated third-party service providers. Therefore, as a merchant or app developer, you should select a service provider capable of hosting the required fields without interrupting the user experience. The service provider should also be able to deliver this without altering the style of the existing form and ensuring security levels.

Third-Party Payment Gateways:

Another important aspect of a good payment app is having a secure Payment Gateway. A payment gateway is nothing but a digital point-of-sale terminal that transmits credit or debit card data to a processor. Important points to keep in mind while selecting a third-party payment gateway includes point-to-point encryption that provides an additional security cover for transactions.

The most common choice for small businesses is a full-stack payment platform. These platforms offer all-in-one payment gateway along with processor and merchant account service. Another benefit of using these platforms is that they handle and store data on behalf of the merchants. This lowers liability and makes PCI compliance possible.

However, third-party payment gateway platforms carry monthly fees and may take a share from every transaction made. Selecting a platform that caters to the needs of your business model and payment app objectives is crucial.

Network Tokenization:

Security is a major concern while working on the internet as there is a constant fear of hackers and malware. To safeguard themselves, many card networks like Visa and MasterCard have taken steps towards tokenization. When a person uses their card, a point-of-sale terminal captures the data which is then encrypted. This encrypted data is sent to the vault of a tokenization service provider, in this case, a card network. A token is then created by the service provide that takes the place of the PAN partially or wholly. A token generally contains randomly generated numbers or symbols, which is viewed by the merchant throughout the transactional process.

Tokenization is a great way to prevent information security breach by replacing actual data with temporary or dead data that cannot be utilized further.

Conduct Penetration Testing:

Once your payment app is ready, it needs to be tested. Technology gets better once limitations and loop holes are recognized and dealt with. It is all the more important for payment apps as any breach in security can likely compromise user data and grant access to the user’s monetary accounts. Conducting penetration testing by means of ethical hacking can help test the defences of the application and figure out if there are any security patches that are vulnerable to compromise. Thorough testing is the only way to strengthen an application’s security framework.

When you develop solutions, making them secure is important. Payment applications have become a vital part of everyday trade. There are many advantages of using one which is what makes them popular. Yet, they are still not immune to security compromise and hacks. And it is only through developing more applications will better solution come to light.