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Authentication

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The Digital Gift Services APIs use mutual authentication by means of a signed certificate provided by Blackhawk Network. The certificate contains embedded values that support authentication, authorization, and billing. Your applications are authenticated through the use of embedded values in the client certificate.

Blackhawk Network requires client certificates to provide data security and privacy for client application data and services shared between Blackhawk Network and its partners.

Our digital services deal with sensitive information associated with people and financial institutions. We limit access to these services to trusted client applications managed by companies that have signed an agreement with us regarding use of the services.

What is a Client Certificate?

Security certificates are exchanged between clients and servers that need to be sure that their communications are private and when the client and/or server need to verify each other's identity. They are a standard part of HTTPS-based communication. When a browser accesses a secure web site, the web server provides a server certificate signed by a trusted public certificate authority (CA). The browser can verify the certificate and then be certain that the server is what it claims to be.

In a similar fashion, a client certificate enables a client application to prove its identity to a server. In this case, the client certificate is signed by a private certificate authority managed by the server that is asking for it. Since the certificate is signed by the server, the server can verify that it is valid and learn from its contents the identity of the client making the request. When a client and server both exchange certificates it is called mutual authentication.

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TLS Support

Blackhawk Network supports TLSv1.2. Calls made using older versions of TLS are not supported and will fail.

Obtaining Your Certification & Production Environment Certificates

During the integration process your implementation manager will request and obtain a client certificate you can use for testing. Production certificates are generated and sent after successful testing in our non-production environment. Production access will not be granted without completion of our integration certification process.

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You must treat the client certificate as highly confidential. You must not share the certificate with any other entities and must notify Blackhawk Network immediately if you suspect the certificate was compromised.

Updated 4 months ago

What’s Next

Developer Central Agreement

  1. License from Blackhawk. Subject to your full compliance with all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement and the Terms of Use, Blackhawk grants you a non-exclusive, revocable, non-sublicensable, nontransferable license to use and integrate the Blackhawk Developer Tools into your Application solely to test them in Blackhawk’s sandbox environment.
  2. Passwords, Credentials and Access. Blackhawk will provide (or you will be requested to establish) a password or other procedures for verifying that only designated personnel have access to Blackhawk Developer Tools. Blackhawk may provide you with unique confidential identification codes, credentials and certificates that enable you to use the Blackhawk Developer Tools. You may not share any such items with any third party without the prior written consent of Blackhawk, and you agree to notify Blackhawk immediately of any violation of your foregoing obligations. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account, passwords, credentials, codes, certificates and other files, and for all uses of your account, and you are liable for all activities performed under your account or otherwise with your credentials, codes and certificates.
  3. Restrictions and Obligations. You may not use the Blackhawk Developer Tools for any purpose other than as expressly set forth herein without Blackhawk’s prior written consent, including without limitation to access Blackhawk user data or information without authorization or in any manner or for any purpose that violates any law or regulation or any right of any person (including but not limited to intellectual property rights or rights of privacy). You may not use the Blackhawk Developer Tools to build a product or service that is competitive with the Blackhawk Services, or engage in any practices that discriminate against or discourage the use of Blackhawk Services. In addition, you shall not use the Blackhawk Developer Tools or Blackhawk Services in connection with or to promote any Applications or other products, services, or materials that constitute, promote or are used for the purpose of dealing in: spyware, adware, or other malicious programs or code; counterfeit goods; items subject to U.S. embargo; unsolicited mass distribution of email; multi-level marketing proposals; hate materials; hacking/surveillance/interception/descrambling equipment; libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive or otherwise offensive content; prostitution; gambling; stolen products or items used for theft; fireworks, explosives, or hazardous materials; or weapons. Without limiting the foregoing, you shall not use the Blackhawk Developer Tools or Blackhawk Services for any illegal purpose. Except as expressly and unambiguously authorized under this Agreement, you may not (i) copy, rent, lease, sell, transfer, assign, sublicense, disassemble, reverse engineer or decompile (except to the limited extent such restrictions are expressly prohibited by applicable statutory law), modify or alter any part of the Blackhawk Developer Tools or Blackhawk Services, or (ii) otherwise use the Blackhawk Developer Tools or Blackhawk Services on behalf of any third party.   You may not use any robot, spider, or other automatic device to create accounts for use of the Blackhawk Developer Tools and you will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Blackhawk’s infrastructure.
  4. Support; Other Conditions of Use. Blackhawk may provide you with support or modifications for the Blackhawk Developer Tools (collectively, “Support”) in its sole discretion. Blackhawk may terminate such Support at any time without notice to you. Blackhawk may change, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Blackhawk Developer Tools, at any time, including the availability of any APIs. Blackhawk may release subsequent versions of APIs, and you may be required to use those subsequent versions. Blackhawk may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts of or all of the Blackhawk Developer Tools without notice or liability. Your networks, operating systems, software, web server(s), routers, databases and other computer systems must be properly configured to Internet industry standards, as required to securely operate your Application.
  5. Sandbox Environment; Data. You may use the sandbox environment provided as part of the Blackhawk Developer Tools (“Sandbox”) in order to test the Blackhawk Services. If you access the Sandbox with a digital certificate provided by Blackhawk, your use of the Sandbox and any data or information you input into the Sandbox will be available only to users that access the Developer Portal with your account. Important: If you access the Sandbox without a digital certificate provided by Blackhawk, your use of the Sandbox, and any data or information that you input into the Sandbox, will be available to all users that access the Developer Portal. You may only use anonymous, non-live data and you may not enter any confidential, sensitive or personally identifiable information into the Sandbox. Data and other information provided to or made available in the Sandbox is not encrypted. Blackhawk will have no responsibility or liability for any information you enter into the Sandbox, or otherwise from your use of the Sandbox. You are fully responsible for the security of any data or information you provide in connection with the Developer Portal, and you must comply with all applicable laws and rules in connection with your provision and use of such data and information.
  6. Proprietary Rights. As between you and Blackhawk, the Blackhawk Developer Tools, Blackhawk Services and all intellectual property rights therein are and shall at all times remain the sole and exclusive property of Blackhawk and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws and treaties. As between you and Blackhawk, your Application and all intellectual property rights therein (but excluding any Blackhawk intellectual property therein) are and shall at all times remain your sole and exclusive property. You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback or other information about the Blackhawk Developer Tools or Blackhawk Services (“Submissions”), provided by you to Blackhawk are voluntary, non-confidential and Blackhawk will be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Submissions for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.
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  8. Confidentiality. “Confidential Information” means all information related to the Developer Portal, including but not limited to the following: (i) any information you receive or enter via the Blackhawk Developer Tools (including the sandbox environment), (ii) the Blackhawk Developer Tools and all related information and materials, including without limitation API credentials and all access IDs and passwords, (iii) all information disclosed in writing and marked “confidential”, proprietary,” or with a substantially similar marking, (iv) all information disclosed orally and identified as confidential at the time of the disclosure, and (v) any other information that by its nature you understand or would reasonably be expected to understand to be Blackhawk’s confidential information. You must maintain Blackhawk’s Confidential Information in confidence and must not disclose it to third parties or use it for any purpose other than as necessary and required to develop your Application as permitted herein. In the event that Confidential Information is required to be disclosed by a court, government agency, regulatory requirement, or similar disclosure requirement, you shall immediately notify Blackhawk and use reasonable efforts to obtain confidential treatment or a protection order of any disclosed Confidential Information. Your obligations hereunder shall survive the termination of this Agreement. You acknowledge that monetary damages may not be a sufficient remedy for unauthorized use or disclosure of Confidential Information and that Blackhawk will be entitled (without waiving any other rights or remedies) to injunctive or equitable relief as may be deemed proper by a court of competent jurisdiction, without obligation to post any bond.
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