4 Costly Payment Security Mistakes

Company owners strive to run a profitable business that provides quality products and a superior customer experience. But in today’s world, merchants also must focus on technology advances and the digital threats that come with it. In fact, payment security needs to be a priority.

Below are 4 areas of oversight that companies make when it comes to payment security.

1. Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols that retain all the essential information about the data without comprising its security. The process takes place when a credit card number is entered, the card detail is sent to a vault, a token is created, and then the merchant uses the token for the purchase.

Your business should be tokenizing customer card data, so you can lower your risk of exposing precious customer details to fraudsters. Not only do businesses lose customers over data breaches but they are responsible for paying back financial loses and that can devastate an otherwise healthy business.

Tokenization also simplifies the process of becoming PCI complaint. Only the customer’s token is stored on-site, not the actual card information which reduces the merchant’s liability.

2. PCI Compliance, according to the PCI Security Standards Council, is maintaining payment security that is required for all entities that store, process or transmit cardholder data. Guidance for maintaining payment security is provided in PCI security standards. These set the technical and operational requirements for organizations accepting or processing payment transactions, and for software developers and manufacturers of applications and devices used in those transactions.

Ignoring PCI compliance means that businesses are at a greater risk of cyber-attacks aimed at stealing cardholder data and the result of that can be devastating. When you purchase personal items, you are likely grateful these standards are in place so why not extend that to your customers? You can go online and take a self-assessment to see what you are doing well or where you are falling behind in your PCI compliance.

3. EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, is a global standard created by the three card brands that enforces the use of chip card technology. Launched in the fall of 2015, all businesses were required to use EMV-compliant terminals that process chip cards. Since these regulations went into effect, any business that continues to use magnetic card readers when processing chip cards is automatically held responsible for fraudulent transactions.

And this new technology has proven beneficial. Payment cybercrime is down due to the chip, or microprocessor, and the total dollar amount of card fraud has dropped at more than 70% in two years’ time. With the cost of implementing the proper systems to support EMV becoming more affordable, even smaller retailers can come on board and reduce their liability. 

4. Storing Customer Data Onsite is a risky activity for any business. A vendor, burglar or rogue employee could steal customer credit card data written down on a piece of paper or stored on a computer with unsecured files. Merchants who do any of these could face staggering ramifications associated with a cyber breach.

Taking the steps to work with your merchant processor to securely store your customers’ data is key. Storing them in a payment system not only protects you and your customer, it also improves time efficiencies when running a business. That way, the credit card data will be secure, and you won’t be responsible for stolen data.

Is Your Business Being As Secure As It Can Be?

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