Help > Security
Overview
If you’ve never purchased online before, we have summarised the main concerns about purchasing online and give you a realistic perspective regarding the risks to you.
keen2learn use Protx (payment service provider) to ensure your credit / debit card details are kept safe against fraud. All data passed between our site and Protx (e.g. your name and address) is encrypted, therefore all credit/debit card details are only input once you have been directed to the Protx secure payment system. No personal or sensitive data (e.g. credit card information) is stored on our webserver. Any credit care details you supply to us will be kept on the Protx server for increased security.
‘Card not present’ (CNP) fraud
Internet, telephone and mail order transactions are all classified as ‘Card not present’ transactions because the card-holder and card are not physically present for signatures. According to the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS), ‘Card not present’ fraud accounts for around 2% of all card fraud in the UK. APACS have also found that:
- Most cases of internet fraud result when card details obtained fraudulently in the real world are then used to purchase online.
- The incidence of hackers obtaining card details through merchant databases is very low.
- The risk to customers is further reduced if they use a certified organisation to encrypt data such as Protx.
Additional Security with ‘3D Secure’
An additional page has been added to the payment process. When you are redirected across to Protx you will be presented with a page containing the credit and debit card logos. Select the card you wish to use and then you will be asked for the card details (card number, expiry date, CV2 etc.) on a subsequent screen.
On completion of the card details screen, you will be shown our new order confirmation screen. This will display the contents of your Basket field and order, address and card summary details as well as the option to go back to change the card you have chosen to use.
If you have 3D-Secure enabled on your account, the Issuing Bank verification screen will now appear inside a Protx window (using Inline Frames, as recommended by the card schemes). This gives a more consistent user experience and allows a route to continue the transaction even if the Issuing Bank 3D-Secure screen is having problems.
The final Authorisation screen now displays a simple progress-bar style animation so that you know that the system is working whilst Protx are talking to your acquiring bank. This replaces the rather dull “Authorising please wait.” message that used to appear.
The new pages are fully multi-language compliant. They can detect the language settings in your browser and display the payment pages in that language.
Our Privacy Policy
Our highest priority is to keep sensitive information safe and private while making the online shopping experience as simple as possible.
When you are directed to Protx Secure Server, you have the option to store your name and billing address in a secure e-wallet, so when shopping with us in future you need only provide your username, password and preferred payment method. The transaction process is simple and there is a full audit trail of where and how much has been spent. Customers also have the option to shop with complete anonymity.
Security
Protx provides our customers with very high levels of internet and physical security to ensure sensitive information is never compromised. The measures include :
Security measures:
- Credit/debit card details are secured within 128-bit encrypted sessions.
- Sensitive information is stored on a heavily encrypted database that is protected by multiple government approved firewalls.
- Additional security measures include a security key that is used to produce an MD5 hash value. Hash values are often used as digital signatures as they cannot be reversed to obtain the original information. They allow the receiver to validate that the information received is identical to that sent.
- The possibility of obtaining sensitive information from the Protx VSP database is minimised due to high levels of encryption; firewall security and the measures taken to ensure the information is indecipherable.
Physical security and resilience:
- Several forms of physical security and multiple levels of system backup protect the Protx VSP and database. This makes transaction processing highly reliable and resilient to events such as security breach or power failure.
- Only authorised personnel can gain access to the VSP Server and fingerprint identification is required.
- The VSP Servers are fed by multiple power supplies and backup generators.
- Secondary network connections will activate should the primary network fail.
- VSP Servers have multiple connections to banking authorisation and settlement systems.
Further details can be found by visiting Protx website.
