In the last post it was explained briefly why the blog has been dormant for a few months. I’ll go into a big more detail now so that those of you who have clients unsure about using our webstore due to concerns about security can be a bit more assured.

Technically the explanation is that we’ve upgraded to support PHP5 programming language and MYSQL5 relational database. Lost you? It means that the security of our site has been enhanced to meet the current standards. In addition our site has moved to a new server which is capable of handling this level of security. Our credit card transactions are handled by Moneris Solutions. The customer service representatives in our physical office never see complete credit card numbers that are used during Internet purchases, only the authorization numbers. The new security measures require that customers now enter the Card Verification Value Code (CVV) during completion of their purchase. That’s the three digit number on the back of the credit card and it’s part of the effort of credit card companies to reduce Internet fraud. We don’t see that in our office, either.

FYI: We don’t archive credit card numbers in our computer systems or anywhere else in our office. That may be somewhat of an inconvenience to our customers who leave messages on our answering machine telling us to just go ahead and bill their order like the last one but in general, people are delighted to hear that we choose not to archive such information.

Everyone is concerned about how to balance the need to be wary about using credit cards on the Internet with time constraints that come into play when purchasing goods such as HipSaver Hip Protectors that are required for the ongoing care of aging parents. Rest assured that with the new upgrades we are confident that we have taken the necessary steps to protect our customers so that their loved ones get what they need in a timely fashion.