I am an Olympic enthusiast. Every four years, I get eager, excited, emotional, and enthusiastic cheering on my nation and my favorite athletes. I love the sportsmanship, the camaraderie, the adrenaline rush, and the sense of national pride.

David Rudisha, Jemima Jelagat Sumgong, and Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon: our runners make me proud and having watched them compete in Rio makes me realize that though I may not ever run 42 km in two and half hours (or, let’s be honest – probably not in two and half days either!), their strength and dedication is something we can all aim to emulate. Following the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony this past Sunday, I started thinking how we, as online businesspeople, can be like Olympic champions in the way that we protect our businesses.

A new way to think of fraudsters

Think of online fraud perpetrators who want your data in the way that Olympian runners think of their competitors who want their medals. Imagine yourself as the defending champion (of your business) and the hackers and thieves as your challengers.

When your challengers use innovative technologies in their training regimen to steal your data, you likely cannot stop them. They will keep pursuing, so you must rigorously train harder, better, and stronger.  As the Olympic champion from Great Britain, Mo Farah, said, “there’s sometimes certain things that happen out of your control. You can only control what you do, and I am controlling what I am doing and winning races.”

Here are the things that are in your control – things you can do to mitigate the risks of online fraud and prevent chargebacks:

1.    Fraud prevention measures are your training regimen.

There are no shortcuts. Olympic athletes have to train religiously. Like Bob Bowman, the long-time coach of Michael Phelps explained, “It’s not because of the talent. It’s the work. It’s a combination, but it’s the work particularly this time around.”

Like Phelps, you must work diligently to protect yourself. His regimen involves the pool, the gym, the track, and his meals. Your regimen must involve:

• An Address Verification Systemto ensure the card is not stolen
• CVV check, to ensure the card is in the possession of the person using it
• IP address verification to make sure users are not behind a proxy and are in a location that “matches” their billing address of record

2.    PCI-DSS to a business transacting online is like the International OlympicCommittee (IOC) for athletes.

For example, when competitors are suspected of doping, the IOC has a zero-tolerance policy for cheaters and a commitment to ensuring that athletes play fair and protecting those who do.

For business like yours, PCI-DSS compliance ensures that systems are secure, sensitive data is protected, and your reputation remains intact. It defines stringent policies that will continually work to keep fraudsters away.

Using an online payment processing platform with a PCI DSS Level 1 certification is the equivalent of having a celebrated Olympic coach who can optimize your training and ensure the competitors stay far behind.

3.    Online fraud prevention is a team sport – you cannot win your medal alone

You must train your staff to be on your relay team and pass the baton from one to the other without ever dropping it and allowing a bad guy to defraud you. Teach and motivate everyone involved to create a culture of protection – to protect your customers and your business.

4.    Tools and training partners help every athlete achieve their best.

Athletes can use supplements (legal and healthy ones!) and pair up to motivate each other. And this is what Direct Pay Online offers our community of medal-worthy customers. We give you the technology and innovations you need to succeed in the fight against online fraud, and we partner with you to ensure your success.

Advanced protection is available for businesses who master fraud prevention measures and achieve PCI-DSS compliance with a payment service provider.

Enterprise-grade security measures are constantly updated to protect you from the latest threats. Data security and fraud prevention ensure at the highest standards – Olympic standards, if you will.

Do you have what it takes?

Not everyone can win an Olympic medal, but everyone can mitigate the risks of online fraud. It’s true – no matter how much I practice, train, and commit, I am well aware that an Olympic medal is not likely in my future. However, a gold medal in online fraud protection – now that is available to anyone.

The reason is that there can be only one gold medalist. But when it comes to online fraud, you don’t need to be the only business that does it right. There can be many gold medalists. The only thing you need to ensure is that you make it hard enough for perpetrators to defraud your account so that they opt to move on to someone else that is less protected.

In this manner, we really can revel in the spirit of sportsmanship – we can all win together.