This system is so effective that major contractors, including the federal government and GM, have set deadlines by which their business partners must be able to handle EDI transactions. IPNet's EDI prowess recently landed the firm an impressive deal with the home video game giant Nintendo of America. Our Internet EDI solution provides the low-cost flexible solution that makes this participation possible. But for all the press this retailing boon has generated, many entrepreneurs are dissuaded from jumping on the online bandwagon at the thought of losing money to unseen cyber bandits tapping into their systems. Fortunately, formidable allies exist to facilitate the safety of doing business on the Web.
Encryption is the armored car of the Internet.
Similar to how banks transport large amounts of cash in bulletproof vehicles, most e-commerce security solutions involve encrypting data so that it cannot be read in transit. Continuing with the analogy, firewall software functions as the safe on either side of the transaction, and protects sensitive information located at the server. Individual small businesses may want to purchase software to encrypt particularly sensitive product or inventory information. For those concerned primarily with payment protection, however, SET technologies and e-cash or cyber cash are the best bets. Credit card companies developed SET so that businesses could conduct credit card transactions without ever coming in contact with the actual credit card number.