[thelist] secure forms and e-commerce etc

Erik Mattheis gozz at gozz.com
Mon Jan 27 02:09:00 CST 2003


On Monday, January 27, 2003, at 01:29 AM, <evolt at zamba.com> wrote:
> Given the usual
> Apache/Linux set-up, can you enlighten me as to how to ensure email
> sent
> from my host server is sent via SSL?

If a particular email client supports SSL, in the preferences there
will be an option something like "require SSL connection". As to how to
do it on the server side, I only know the email server I use ... but a
call to your host's tech support would seem to do the trick.

> On the other hand, I think the idea of having a secure area where
> details can be viewed online is preferable in a few of the cases where
> I
> need it,

Agreed ... and no matter what gateway service you're using, you could
send an email notification that there's a transaction to process. I
suppose it would be possible to do everything via email, but can't see
how it could be anything less than way too cumbersome and complicated.

>  in spite of the usual client dislike of passwords, etc.

Obviously, there will _have_ to be a password involved as encrypting
data would be futile if the encrypted data is accessible without a
password. In another thread today, I put in a plug for
<http://www.authorizenet.com/> ... it makes everything easier as they
take care of a lot of the work (like providing a complete interface to
view and process transactions), and the documentation on how to use the
service is unusually excellent
<http://www.authorizenet.com/support/guides.php>. Another potential
benefit is there's lots of free stuff from third parties in just about
every scripting language have done that's approved by authorize.net
that you can use as is or look at as examples.

Assuming your client can already process CC transactions off the web,
calling tech support at your client's merchant account may prove  the
best place to start .

Likely there's others here that can give you a broader range and more
seasoned answers as I just have two sites that directly take CC orders
under my belt ... but the experience with authorize.net was really a
dream, especially in comparison to some Verisign subsidiary's service.

Oh yeah, I watched both Marathon Man and The Graduate for the first
time this weekend despite the fact I've admired Dustin Hoffman for
years. Now, he's nearly a god to me.
-----------------------
Erik Mattheis
(612) 377 2272
<http://goZz.com/>
-----------------------




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