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What Are Secure Payments?

What Are Secure Payments?

What Are Secure Payments?

Advances in e-commerce and payment technologies have made online payments, e-commerce transactions, and digital financing easier than ever. People can make payments and manage their banking needs from their phones, tablets, kiosks, and more.

This is mostly a good thing for both your guests/members and for your cultural institution/nonprofit. There are more opportunities to sell tickets, grow members, and manage events than ever before. That also means, however, that there’s a higher possibility that you, your clients, and your guests are on the receiving end of a cyberattack. 

Whether you’re selling online or in-person, you need to have a payment process that can protect your clients, guests, donors, and members from the threat of fraud and hackers. This is why integrating a secure payment system (SPS) is so important to the growth and brand of your organization. 

An SPS is a payment processing software that will ensure its user’s personal information, finances, transactions, and more. Below we’ll get into everything you need to know about an SPS. 

How to make sure a payment is secure

Whether you’re a big or small organization, payment security works pretty much the same way for everyone. In order to protect users from any online threats, you need a reliable data-encryption process. Encryption encodes important data and information so it is only accessible to those who have the decryption key. One of the most common encryption processes used today are Secure Socket Layers (SSL) and its more recent descendant, Transport Layer Security (TLS).

SSL vs TLS:

  • SSL
    • Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryptions started back in the 90s and are still used today as part of the protocol for encrypting and authenticating information and links between two networks. SLS is a feature within an SPS system and is a standard component of pretty much any advanced SLS system. 
  • TLS
    • TLS is pretty much an updated version of SSL. When security teams refer to SLS, they’re often referring to TLS. TLS 1.2 is the most recently updated and widely used SLS/TLS protocol. 

Any modern SPS system should guarantee SSL/TLS certifications. Not only will it protect your users, it will also act as a stamp of validation and reliability for your organization.

What payment methods are the most secure?

Credit cards are the gold standard of secure payment methods because they’re not directly linked to your users’ money. They offer another layer of protection that can be backed by banks in the event of fraud or a cyberattack. 

Online payment systems like PayPal or Google Pay are also very secure. They have their own internal security protocols and allow users to file claims if they’re on the receiving end of fraud or a cyberattack. 

ACME Ticketing offers some of the most secure and convenient payment options available to nonprofit organizations and cultural institutions, like museums, zoos, aquariums, and more. A contractor to the federal government, ACME continues to invest in high-compliance data security tools and guarantee data security to its clients. 

ACME’s Cloudflare security upgrade is a no-hassle security integration that will give you and your visitors the peace of mind you need. 

Secure payment system (SPS) examples

Below we’ll take a look at some of the most commonly used secure payment system examples available today. 

  • PayPal
    • PayPal is one of the most successful and widely used payment systems available today. It’s simple, easy to use, and offers the peace of mind that both businesses and customers appreciate. While PayPal does offer great protection for its users, its fees will vary depending on what kind of uses you need (ticketing, donations, membership subscriptions). 
  • Google Pay
    • Google Pay is another hugely popular SPS that links users’ payment options to their Google profile. One big benefit of Google Pay is that it doesn’t charge merchants fees for accepting payments. Google Pay has several layers of security and encryption to protect their users’ personal and credit card information. 
  • Acme payments
    • Like we stated above, ACME has to follow US Federal FIPS-140-2 privacy laws as a government contractor, which guarantees data encryption and client-request features like the ability to control privacy and disable cookies for outbound transactional emails. The big benefit for cultural institutions who choose ACME is that we’re designed to help you manage your donors, events, membership subscriptions, gifts, and ticketing needs. We also offer a flexible POS system that allows you to make tickets/membership upgrades online and on the floor of your venues. 

Benefits of an SPS

There are a ton of benefits to integrating a robust SPS into your organization. Accepting payments under an SPS will allow you to:

  • Obtain SSL certificates that demonstrate security and reliability to your clients and guests.
  • Protect the information, data, and finances of your clients and guests.
  • Attract new guests and members by showing the efficacy of your security processes and commitment to security. 
  • Benefit from POS integrations that can fit into most organizations, large or small. 
  • Have the flexibility to accept a number of the most common types of payments, including credit cards, EMV chips, debit tap, and popular payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.).
  • Gain the transparency that your clients, guests, members, and donors will all appreciate. 

An advanced SPS is pretty much essential for any organization or institution to guarantee security and stay ahead of the competition. 

ACME has all the secure payment features you need

With ACME, you get all the security you need and more. Benefit from a trusted multi-layered security process, flexible POS, nonprofit online payment system, contactless payment options that protect your visitors and staff, and a powerful payment software that supports major payment options.

Try the ACME demo to see how we can help keep your guests secure, drive growth, and uphold your mission statement today. 



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