Security was identified as one of the key defining principles adhered to in the development of BoE Bank's latest online payment option, just launched onto the market and targeting local business-to-business service providers.
Its unique and feature-rich card payment system, i-PayOnline, is intended to meet the particular needs of this niche market, whose enthusiastic take-up of online sales and marketing is tempered by the fact that it has to bear the financial brunt of losses resulting from online credit card fraud and repudiated sales.
This still averages around 15% of total sales revenues generated electronically each year, says Ebeth du Bruyn, MD of the South African Certification Agency (SACA), the world-renowned specialist in digital security solutions for the Internet.
"BoE needed a solution to support its recently launched purchasing cards in the virtual environment. The level of security provided to both buyer and seller during any transaction needs to be of the utmost priority," says Johan Rothmann, business manager for e-commerce, BoE Bank.
"That's why we decided to make user authentication using VeriSign digital certificates fundamental to this new service."
Widely upheld by leading South African and international banks and financial institutions as the essential missing link in Internet security infrastructures, the digital IDs provide the only reliable means of authenticating identities of online transacting parties. They also encrypt data to ensure its confidentiality and integrity, and establish a clear audit trail of activity, which helps protect e-merchants against repudiated sales losses.
BoE has set up a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) environment to issue the cyberspace credentials to its e-merchant clients using SACA's OnSite solution. This means it is able to function as its own Certification Authority (CA) with full control over all critical certification processes. However, responsibility for non-core backend and lifecycle management processes will be delegated to SACA.
"As part of our Information Security Mission we want to ensure availability, integrity and confidentiality of information," comments BoE's Johan Rothmann. "VeriSign certificates are well known and established in the market, and SACA's solution was moreover the best cost/benefit solution available.
"We intend using the Digital IDs and also Server Certificates to enable authentication and encryption in all our business-to-business and business-to-client e-commerce," he continues. "We also intend employing digital certificates for other e-commerce initiatives, as well as internally for authentication and access to applications and systems.
"This is in line with our responsibility as an innovative, specialist banking and financial services group to make online trading not only easier and better managed, but also absolutely safe and secure."
Other security features of i-PayOnline include a Foreign Card Indicator warning displayed to e- merchants whenever a card outside of South Africa is used, and buyers not wanting to reveal their card details on a Web site can register with BoE and receive an "alias" for use when buying from I-PayOnline suppliers.
The i- PayOnline process enables buyers to purchase items at an online store or business portal by means of either credit or purchasing card. The web application submits a request for authorization via i- PayOnline to the acquiring bank, with line item details also submitted in the case of purchasing cards.
An order with authorized card payment is then submitted to the supplier, who ships the goods and requests payment through the I- PayOnline transaction management interface. Invoice details as recorded at the bank can be edited if a purchasing card is used for payment.
Money is then transferred into the supplier's bank account to complete the online transaction.
The Bank is fast establishing itself as a competent, technology-wise leader in e-commerce services, and has committed to setting the highest standard in Internet security in the industry, says Ebeth du Bruyn.
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