Transition from manual billing to online invoicing has had a lasting impression on large as well as small enterprises. Automated invoicing has increased business efficiencies and cash flows, the amount of time and money it saves is staggering and of course it enhances customer relationships.
But there is something that has kept most businesses and organisations circumspect about implementing online billing softwares. It is the ever increasing cyber frauds that have been making the headlines, much to people’s discomfort. Internet security breach has become a limiting factor for generating online invoices. The advantages have been overshadowed by the impending avalanche of security attack.
As an organization you might be already a veteran in automated billing. If you receive invoices by email, then how can the sender be verified? How can the authenticity of the invoice be trusted? How can you be sure that the originality of the invoice has not been tampered? Did the right person in your organization receive the invoice?
Phishing is one threat where the purpose is to send fraudulent mails that appear to be from a legitimate source. This results in surrendering private details of passwords and credit cards. Tampering is another threat where the original invoices are intercepted and the content is modified or rather tampered.
These irrational cyberspace crimes have instigated technological advancements. One such development has been effective encryption and authentication techniques. They allow secure transmission and storage of electronic data.
Digital signatures have become the most secure and trusted way of protecting and authenticating any electronically generated invoice. To digitally sign an electronic invoice it is mandatory to receive a digital certificate from a trusted authority such as government organizations, banks or authorized IT vendors. These digital certificates contain a private key which is distinctive for each company. When an invoice is generated the private key encrypts the invoice data and generates a unique numerical value for the invoice. This unique value is the digital signature and protects the document throughout, irrespective of where it is sent or stored.
Along with the private key a public key is also issued. This public key is used by the invoice receiver to decrypt the unique numeric value and also verifies the source. It also validates the digital signature and ensures that the original content has not been tampered.
Apart from digital signatures, another option that companies can work on is Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL also encrypts and authenticates documents. For any website that collects vital and sensitive information like credit card details, financial statements, etc. SSL provides security that is most reliable.
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