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secure forms - 3rd party handler or ssl cert

435pJJau251
 
Posts: 44
Joined: 17 Jun 11
Location: China
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09 Aug 11 6:35 am

secure forms - 3rd party handler or ssl cert

hi..
i am designing a site which needs secure forms. the data will contain personal information plus credit card info. there are a bunch of 3rd party secure form companies which ive been investigating, which i can use easily. there is also the other option of handling my own form but securing the site via a ssl certificate such as from Websitespot.com ssl certificate.

now my question is.. it seems its cheaper to go via the ssl certificate. i don't have a solid know-how about what would be best. hopefully someone out there has some good advice about this. im not even sure if the ssl certificate will be absolutely secure from point A to point B.

thanks.
 

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essexboyracer
 
Posts: 130
Joined: 02 May 11
Location: Great Britain
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09 Aug 11 8:01 pm

You do not want to take credit card information in a form based on your webhosting, this will open you up to huge fines from the PCI-DSS people, basically they require anyone processing credit cards, whether off or on line to pass a test of how CC information is processed.

If you are processing CC details you WILL want to do this via a payment gateway, such as PayPal, SagePay or WorldPay, nochex etc etc. They all charge processing fees etc, but he simple truth is they reduce your liability in accepting credit cards on a website.

EDIT: And you will need an SSL certificate for your site as well, Don't get a self-signed certificate, pay the £60/year for a proper certificate from an authority
 

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