AssuredCredit | AssuredCard | MIlinx | Secure Payment Request Portal

Assured Card Corporation was able to understand the importance of security for customers and financial institution information. Individuals and corporations did not want information compromised or exposed to the public or unauthorized individuals. We never had a breach in our systems from 1994-2001 that compromised any customer data.

In 1998 we created a new HTML JScript Online Windows Form to allow internet users with Windows OS and Internet Explorer to submit an Application or Registration. This development provided market reach for AssuredCard’s unique credit and debt management product. It also provided the platform for the on-premise merchant payment gateway registration and customer payments.

In the forms below we took steps to limit the amount of information collected as we did in the online version.

• for payment requests limiting to last 4 digits for ID of the credit facility
• limiting transmission of the application only if the financial institution was registered

In the event we needed to make an emergency payment we asked these financial institutions for authority to make third party payments otherwise we would have to mail a check to the customer. The forms displayed below are:

• AssuredCard Annual Payment Form
• AssuredCard Account Registration Form
• AssuredCard Payment Request Form

At that time most systems financial institution systems were predominantly Microsoft so we used this technology to build the initial forms. This included the technology used for the initial servers with Corporate access using Novell NetWare versus Public and Communications using Microsoft NT architecture.

SendMail an internetwork email routing facility supported Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) used for email transport over the Internet. It was the first technology used to transmit the information to our Data Entry Team. It was a simple technology we could strip all other active code and transmit text only data without direct access to the Corporate Data servers.

To accomplish this architecture we segregated a Microsoft Email Server or Exchange Server provisioned for Corporate email. A manual firewall table was created to block all access to other Corporate systems except through required ports and IP’s for transmission by SendMail.

The new transmission model for a Payment Request needed to have a more robust security model so malicious actors could not exploit this custom made Windows Form and gain access to Corporate Customer Data as this form was going to write to the company database once we were confident the best security protocols were in place.

We decided to provision a Microsoft Internet Information Server (“IIS”) including as our site hosting and installed our own SSL Certificates. We created the site using Frontpage which at the time was the easiest way to get this done as it was also part of MS Office and designed for IIS sites.

In 1998 to get data to the Corporate MS SQL Server we needed to use the MS Office required server-side plugins or IIS Extensions. We setup the new IIS Server and in about two weeks had it writing data to the CRM.

The setup included a firewall between the public internet so we could isolate ports and IP’s to minimize potential attacks including buffer overflow.

The preparation for the Secure Payment Request Gateway was simple and complex. It was simple as we were at the right place at the right time. TLS was being introduced and adopted in 1999. IT professionals were finally grasping the exponential vulnerabilities of MS SQL. AuthConfig was being introduced in 1999 for a central identity store protocol. We were at the right place at the right time. We had all the pieces coming technology to protect our customer's information. Now a universal online payment gateway our next challenge.

Commercial relationships were created with Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Cisco. Milinx was launched as an ASP (named from the Minix backend of SuccessInc) in 1997 as we created the framework for a universal scalable platform.

We needed to address session control. The internet as it existed in 1999 was as open as a slice of Swiss cheese. Sessions were not secured meaning you could find a URL and most of the time access without permission.

AuthConfig meant it was much easier to setup a system security service daemon which at the time was also being adopted into the Oracle database engine we used for Milinx. We had a base technology framework to launch a more Secure Online Payment Gateway.

We developed the original backend for AssuredCard service with Microsoft by segregating online and public access. One. To address access by financial institutions IT departments we needed an interoperable secure Online Merchant Payment Gateway that countered their insecure technology. We understood the weaknesses in their architecture and we could make customer data secure.

We had used the AssuredCredit Web Portal as a testing ground for the concept. We had created a basic framework, best practices and secure architecture for delivery of the technology. The patent filed March 2000 provided launch of the Hosted Universal eCommerce Payment Gateway “Client-Centered Secure-eCommerce” and we created our first partnership and customer accounts.

By 1999 AssuredCredit parent Assured Card Corporation was being acquired by Milinx through CreditAssure Financial. We needed to show leadership and innovation beyond any other technology leader. A new protocol “Biometric Protection for Encryption” was filed.

We had two very different different architectures and approaches which needed a universal architecture and future.

The new On-Premise Online Payment Terminal was the first Online Merchant Payment Gateway. The new Hosted Online Merchant eCommerce Payment Gateway was the backend for all Hosted Online Payment Systems.

The updated Online Services Portal Login form is below which was introduced prior to the release of the On-Premise Online Merchant Payment Gateway.