TransNet Offers Holiday E-Shopping Guarantee

In an effort to bolster consumer confidence in e-commerce for the holiday season, TransNet Security, Inc. has launched a program to guarantee the security practices of Web sites across the Internet.

The company will give its TransNet Seal of Approval to e-commerce sites that pass a series of security tests. Interested online merchants can contact the company to have their site tested free of charge.

“E-Christmas ’99 is expected to be the biggest ever, so we are making it very easy for all Web merchants to offer worry-free e-commerce by displaying the TransNet Seal of Approval,” commented Dina Marie Schon, senior vice president of sales and marketing for TransNet.

“Since about half of credit card fraud in 1998 occurred on the Internet, we are offering this free service so that this year the holidays are happy for everyone,” she added.

Worry Free E-Commerce?

Using the TransNet logo, the company’s new security seal of approval is a star-like stamp which, according to the company, will be easy for online consumers to recognize.

“With no one agency or security standards in place on the Internet, shoppers have a challenge before them, and estimates are that 80 percent of all Internet merchants do not offer secure payment processing,” said a TransNet company statement.

E-Holiday Shopping Safety Tips

TransNet has also issued a guide for online shoppers, reminding them to make sure that the Web sites they shop on are marked “secure.” Otherwise, a consumer’s credit card could end up on an unsecured server and vulnerable to attack.

The company has produced a “to do list” with regard to secure shopping, featuring advice such as doing business with merchants that are recognizable. Other list items include making purchases from merchant sites that provide real brick-and-mortar contact numbers, and to check their browser for a particular site’s security.

The corresponding “don’t” list includes reminding consumers not to store credit card number on sites, not to use readily-available wallet technology, and not to shop on a site that does not utilize real-time processing.

Additionally, there is a security test that online consumers can run themselves. “First go onto a site. Then choose a credit card payment option, enter your personal information, and the following test card number: 4005550000000019.”

“If you are thanked for your order,” according to TransNet, the site, quite simply, is not secure.

Learning To SEE

TransNet joins other online security firms that have launched similar initiatives, including Entrust Technologies.

Entrust issued a white paper, “The Security Enabled E-business: The Management Mandate for the New Millennium,” in which it outlines a framework for what it will take for a business to securely and successfully move its operations online.

“Many enterprises, for the last year or so, have been mired down in their year 2000 initiatives,” said Bob Heard, Entrust senior vice president of marketing and business development, in an E-Commerce Times interview. As enterprises conclude Y2K preparations, continued Heard, online security initiatives will move to “the top of the list” with regard to business investment priorities.

“With the proper security infrastructure, companies can dramatically reduce the cost of transactions, lower the cost of remote access, launch new lines of business quicker by shortening the time-to-market, lessen corporate risks, and effectively communicate with much wider audiences of partners, suppliers, employees and customers,” added John Ryan, President and CEO of Entrust. “Because a SEE views security as a doorway to new opportunities rather than a defensive posture it can more fully realize its business goals.”

“SEE” will become a sort of seal of approval that Entrust applies to firms that it feels have leveraged technology to achieve their business goals while ensuring the security of all transactions.