A little history:

In 1987, an American cryptographer, David Chaum, developed a signature protocol to support Internet transactions. He created Digicash in 1994, an initiative that can be considered as the first virtual currency. This one turns short, because it is too far ahead of its time. The money exchanged could be re-used several times as a banknote.

Electronic money could not be traced. It is operated by 3 main banks, Mark Twain Bank, EUnet Finland and Deutsche Bank3.

At the same time, Visa, MasterCard and American Express together define the SET protocol. Suitable for card transactions on the Internet, i.e. cashless money, SET, which is based on exchanges encrypted by a system of public keys (PKI - RSA) derived from a root key, between the issuer, the acquirer and a payment gateway, will be used very little because it is too complex to implement. This protocol will be replaced later (2000) by the more flexible 3-D Secure.

Secure payment :

When making a payment on the Internet, most websites encrypt the connection between the individual's computer and the payment service: an "s" is added after "http" (which gives "https://") and the vast majority of Internet browsers display a small padlock in one of the corners of the screen. The "s" behind http means that the connection between your computer and the payment server is encrypted by the SSL protocol: if a hacker intercepts data, he will only see an incomprehensible sequence of symbols.

The e-credit card :

With the development of electronic commerce (or e-commerce), secure means of payment are being set up which avoid the consumer having to communicate his bank card number to the merchant site. A "trusted third party" provides merchant sites with a secure payment system.

We can cite the following examples:

The e-carte bleue system adopted in France by Société Générale, the Banque Populaire Group, LCL, and the Caisse d'Epargne, based on Irish technology (Orbiscom company) in partnership with Wanadoo of the France Télécom Group, under the aegis of the Carte Bleue Group, La Banque Postale. The Caisse d'Epargne's systems: SPPlus and Id-tronic.  The Secure Click system offered by the Israeli company Cyota in the United States.  The Virtualis system available in some Crédit Mutuel federations. The Net+ Virtual Card system from the British company Neovia.

A little reminder to learn how to check a secure payment:

A payment on the internet must be done in a secure way. To guarantee the security of the transaction, the merchant encrypts all data sent. Here's how to make sure that all precautions have been taken.

Stages of realization

1 The presence of a closed padlock on the payment page is far from sufficient to guarantee the security of the payment. It is nevertheless indispensable. It is usually located at the bottom of the page, on the right or left.

2 Check the URL of the payment page before entering your bank details. The payment page must begin with https and not http, the letter S, indicating the security of the procedure.

3 Also check the actual existence of the company selling you a product or service. It must have a Siret number and a registered office address. A quick tour of the infogreffe site will help you to find out.