How to Facilitate Secure Digital Payments

As digital payment options flood the market, there’s one thing keeping potential users away: perceived security flaws. All consumers want to know that their hard earned money is kept safe. And when it comes to peer to peer payments, security concerns are much higher for older consumers. According to the Consumer Payments Study conducted by TSYS, 45% of consumers over the age of 55 and 29% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 are worried about their security when using peer to peer payment apps.

To get adoption rates up and improve customer experience, digital payments must be secure and make this a selling point. Below we go over some of the most popular types of security measures for digital payments, how they work with ultrasonic data transmission, and the communication properties necessary for security.

Layers of Payment Security

There are many different levels of security when it comes to digital payments. Let’s go through two of the most common.

Tokenization

For iPhone users using Apple Pay, Apple saves credit card information and when making a purchase, sends the request to the card issuer. But each time this credit card information is sent, it takes the form of a random string of numbers, known as a one time use only “token.” Once the card issuer creates the random string of numbers, it enables the smartphone to use the token and send it along to the payment terminal. The payment terminal can then decode the encrypted payment information and approve or reject the purchase.

Biometrics

Many new smartphones employ biometrics as another layer of added security. From unlocking a phone to downloading something from the app store to completing a purchase, fingerprint or face ID are quickly becoming standard safety measures. Biometrics can be added as a second layer of security by app developers when enabling digital payments.

How Ultrasonic Payment Methods Factor In

The most advanced way to pay uses ultrasonic tones to send encrypted payment information. This technology is embedded into a payment provider’s app. LISNR enables payment providers to use their chosen method of encryption, alongside ultrasonic capabilities.

In addition, some payment providers may want additional layers of encryption. LISNR’s technology makes this possible by encrypting our payloads (also known as the data we enable payment providers to send using our ultrasonic tones). This process changes the size of the payload because the stronger the encryption, the longer the string of data. The larger size increases the transaction time significantly. This additional layer of encryption ensures that all financial data will be indecipherable to any bad actors, keeping consumer’s financial data safe.

Why Bi-Directional Payments Are the Way of the Future

Existing payment methods, such as QR codes have been adopted across a number of consumer markets. While this technology might offer easier user experiences when necessary hardware cooperates, it misses a key aspect to secure digital payments: bi-directional communication. This allows a smartphone to “talk” with a terminal in an encrypted “language” to verify payment information over a secure channel. QR codes, on the other hand, only have uni-directional communication in which the payment device sends payment information, without verifying first that it is sending the correct information to the desired recipient, instead it potentially getting intercepted by a third party.  

Ready to enable secure digital payments? Get in touch with team LISNR.