Setting Up Encryption

If you process credit card or bank accounts payments directly (through on-site payment gateways or bank transfers), customer credit card and bank account numbers are stored in Parallels Customer and Business Manager database. To protect customer account data, set up encryption. You can use either passphrase or local encryption key (LEK) encryption. If the encryption is turned off, the system neither saves information about new accounts nor stores the existing accounts details.

Use the LEK encryption if you intend to automatically charge customer accounts. However, you are required to enter a LEK PIN - a special 4-digit code - to view sensitive information like customers' credit card or bank account numbers and to void and refund transactions.

Use the passphrase encryption if you require confirmation of each transaction. The system asks for a passphrase to perform all operations related to customer billing accounts and payments. When a customer changes billing account details, you receive a corresponding to-do item to re-encrypt the new data with your passphrase. The re-encryption of the new data is mandatory. For details on how to perform payments with passphrase encryption turned on, see Generating and Running Payment Queue.

As the system uses LEK to encrypt and decrypt billing accounts, all operations related to payments processing are halted when the key becomes damaged, corrupted, or lost. To avoid these situations, back up your LEK in advance and restore it if necessary.

When you back up an LEK, it is divided between two administrators you assign. You can be one of these administrators. These administrators are able to back up their key part or restore it. After both administrators restore their key parts, the system restores the LEK and displays a notification about it.

To configure encryption settings:

1. Go to the Business Setup > All Settings > Encryption Settings page.
2. Enter agree in the Encryption Agree field.
3. Set a secret passphrase or PIN. It may remain empty if you wish

   Note: To change from passphrase to previously specified PIN, leave the PIN fields empty.

4. Click the Submit Changes button.

   Important! To prevent irreversible database corruption during re-encryption by a new passphrase, we highly recommend that you back up the Business Manager database before submitting changes. You are also required to forbid access to adding and editing billing account information during re-encryption process.

To assign a key part owner:

1. Go to the Business Setup > All Settings > Encryption Settings page.

   It is assumed that LEK encryption is turned on.

2. Select two administrator accounts.
3. Click the Submit Changes button.

To back up your LEK:

1. Go to the Business Setup > All Settings > Encryption Settings page.

   It is assumed that LEK encryption is turned on.

2. Click Backup.

To restore your LEK:

1. Go to the Business Setup > All Settings > Encryption Settings page.

   it is assumed that LEK encryption is turned on.

2. Fill in the current LEK PIN and specify the backup file.
3. Click Restore.

   Note: You should turn on LEK encryption.

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