A little while back, GunPal hit the scene, partially in an attempt to provide PayPal-like services to those who dare to traffic in lawful materials like firearms and firearm-related accessories, the very mention of which causes the PayPal heirarchy to wet their pants.
At the time, I inquired as to GunPal’s accreditation, and Mr. Cannon set me straight; however, it would appear as though they went and picked up a new certificate as well:
GUNPAL.net, the payment processing platform of choice for the firearms and accessories industry, is rolling out EV SSL security certificates from VeriSign to help prevent Phishing attacks and ID theft amongst customers. EV SSL is popular among financial sites for the added layer of security it offers.
GUNPAL.net will join the ranks of other sites offering the ultimate in online security including Bank Of America, Charles Schwab, and HSBC Bank, the largest banking group in the world.
As e-criminals grow more sophisticated, financial services leaders like GUNPAL.net must always remain a step ahead to ensure the security and trust of our customers,” said Ben Cannon, CEO.
Deploying VeriSign Extended Validation SSL Certificates will allow us to send an instantly recognizable signal to our customers, confirming that any personal information they supply on that page will go directly to GUNPAL.net and no one else.”
An EV SSL Certificate will display easily understood visual cues in enabled high-security browsers to provide tangible assurance of a site’s authenticity. The address bar turns green, a lock icon appears next to the address, and a new field appears to the right of the URL in the high-security browser. This field will contain the name of the organization that owns the site (in this case GUNPAL, Inc) as well as the security provider that issued the certificate (VeriSign).
The cost of the EV SSL cert is expensive, and the verification procedures extensive says Cannon, “The price is worth it – I know when I see the green bar that I am using the real GUNPAL.net, and that’s priceless.”
I am certainly not going to claim credit for getting GunPal to pull down a VeriSign certificate, but I definitely appreciate that they have. Now all we need to do is get more people to use them, and that is incumbent upon us, the gun-owning and -using populace of America – get to it, folks!
The company I work for recently went through the process of getting our billing process and sites certified by this same process. It’s a significant expense and a pain in the ass. Good on them for seeing it through, it really makes a difference in trustworthiness.
I’m a Luddite when it comes to handling money. When I order something from a distributor like S.O.G. or pick something up on Gunbroker, I usually send a postal money order. Having a service that works as easy as paypal does sounds like a good idea. If it catches on I guess I’ll have to give it a try.
Eseell: Agreed. With some now-big-names backing up their security and webpage, hopefully more people will become more comfortable using their system, and a little bit of PayPal’s userbase will be bled off. Works for me.
Dave: So the good news is that GunPal’s system is not overly complicated to use, and sending money is pretty simple as well… And now with the NRA jumping onboard the bandwagon, hopefully other organizations and corporations will as well. But it is dependent upon us, the consumers and customers, to indicate to our suppliers what we want them to do…
I have received money from gunpal without incident. Seems to work well.
Good to hear, Chris. Still trying to convince people to give it a shot, myself.
I work for VeriSign and caught this conversation regarding certs and Extended Validation SSL in my travels — it’s great to see folks appreciating the importance of stronger but more expensive encryption. Now when users visit Gunpal they’ll be alerted immediately to any phishing attempts by keeping an eye on the green url bar (hackers can attempt man-in-the-middle attacks, but they’ll come through without the EV look). If anyone has any questions regarding the technology or its uses I’d be happy to field them.
Thanks for stopping by, Joseph – would you mind me posting your email address (in a spam-bot-unfriendly fashion, of course: “username (at) domain (dot) com”) so my readers can take you up on your offer? I definitely agree that any movement towards a more-secure internet is a good one, and that little green banner goes a long way to assuaging people’s fears.
Hi Linoge,
By all means, I’d be happy to field any q’s. Feel free to post my gmail address and I’ll do my best to address any concerns. We’re definitely in agreement on online security.
“josephadeo (at) gmail (dot) com”
getting feedback
If you are interested in such things, or curious about them, a VeriSign employee by the name of Mr. Joseph A’Deo has offered to answer any questions my readers might have about GunPal’s recent VeriSign accreditation (or, probably, anything else…
Thanks Joseph – I put up your offer as a new post here, so hopefully anyone with questions will take you up on it
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[...] case that name does not ring an immediate bell with you, Mr. Benjamin Cannon is the proprietor, CEO, and chairman of GunPal – the PayPal-alternative (since PayPal sucks) of transferring money around the [...]