If you want to integrate with a payment processor or a payment gateway in Canada you need to be aware of the peculiarities of the mechanisms that are used for processing of card-present and card-not-present transactions in this country. These requirements are set by Interac Association, a major Canadian inter-bank debit network.
Payment Processor
An additional level of transaction validation is used for card-present transactions (EMV and swipe). A message authentication code or a MAC block, a special block of encrypted data, has to be added to every transaction when it is transmitted from the payment terminal to the processor. This block provides an additional protection from fraudsters and allows both the processor and the terminal to verify that the transaction data is not changed or replicated while sending.
There is also a special mechanism used for card-not-present transactions. It resembles 3D Secure and helps to verify cardholder’s identity. When the purchase is made the cardholder is redirected to the special online service.
These are just several things which you need to pay attention to while implementing the integration with a processor in Canada. If you want to know more feel free to contact us we will be glad to answer your questions.
