With the magnetic stripe applied to cards, which protected sensitive information such as transaction limits and authorized operations, and the arrival of the PIN as the primary method of cardholder authentication, the use of cryptography applied to the banking sector began with the sole purpose of protecting the most important and valuable asset around which the industry is built: data.
The need to make sensitive information linked to financial transactions undecipherable and to optimize the use of the services offered, so that customers would have an efficient and secure experience, prompted the use of different encryption methods.
How does cryptography work at the banking level and what are its benefits?
The obligation to protect confidential and sensitive data has led the financial industry to a constant evolution in encryption methods. With the arrival of the 21st century in the year 2000, the creation of consortiums made up of brands such as Visa® and MasterCard® and the arrival of the EMV standard opened the door to the use of other types of encryption, such as asymmetric encryption, which implements the use of two keys (public and private) under the RSA method for the correct transmission of data.
With this type of cryptographic breakthrough, banking has implemented far-reaching improvements to the means of payment and banking service as we know it today:
The chip and its computing power in the cards that implement it for secure and reliable cardholder authentication.
Digital wallets where cards are within reach of the cardholder’s mobile device.
Methods such as contactless, cardless transactions, tokens or authorization by parts that allow the customer to have agility with more advanced security when carrying out their transactions.
It should be noted that these methods were originally based on the 3DES encryption method, however, progress in cryptography has also been supported by market studies and stronger security standards, such as the Payment Industry Data Security Standard or PCI standards, which have been responsible for ensuring state-of-the-art encryption methods (currently AES encryption method) consistent with the increasingly high demands of the financial market, and incorporating formats that support it, such as Pinblock ISO 4, which allow to continue in the search to create impenetrable barriers against fraud attempts, identity theft, data theft, inter alia, in addition to the National Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST, an organization that deprecated the DES algorithm and gives guidelines at the level of secure algorithms.
The use of these technologies in your financial business will allow you to comply with international security standards and, in addition, enjoy benefits such as:
Data encryption in a mission-critical system or payment environment, far from being an optional tool, is essential. Your company must not only ensure that it adheres to the strictest standards when it comes to protecting its data and that of its customers, but it must also provide peace of mind and security when facing today’s competitive and volatile market, prioritizing the well-being of your information in times when cyberattacks are a constant cause for concern.
At CLAI PAYMENTS® Technologies we offer you a cryptographic solution that will allow you to provide a complete service from the cloud, integrating all the encryption services that your business needs and operating through IBM® Power i systems, with continuous availability, optimal, agile and adaptable processes. If you want to know more about this product, leave us your details below and our specialized team will contact you.
