How To Stop Credit Card Hackers
The time to protect your business from hackers is now.
Customers these days expect merchants to accept credit and debit cards as a valid form of payment. They trust you to secure their information and not leave it vulnerable to attacks by hackers who want to take their information and make fraudulent purchases or even steal their identities.
With all of the recent hacks on major companies in the news, it’s a good time to think about securing your data and protecting your business from unwarranted breaches. It’s also important to note that with the advent of the chip card in our country, hackers will likely turn to smaller establishments that are using products that are not yet EMV (chip card) enabled. So no matter the size of your business, no one is really safe anymore.
Fortunately, there are ways for you to make your business more secure. We’ve put together a quick reference list of four things you can do to ensure the security of your credit card transactions. PCI Compliance PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance is adherence to a set of specific security standards governing any merchant who accepts credit or debit cards. These standards were created to protect sensitive card information from being stolen during and after a transaction. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that all companies that process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Here are the six main requirements for PCI compliance:
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Build and maintain a secure network
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Protect cardholder data
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Maintain a vulnerability management program
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Implement strong access control measures
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Regularly monitor and test networks
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Maintain an information security policy
You’ll want to make sure that your POS software and credit card terminal are PCI compliant. This will save you countless hours and a lot of money trying to follow these guidelines all by yourself. There are penalties and consequences for not adhering to the standards so it’s in your best interest to take care of this sooner rather than later.
Credit and Debit Card Encryption
Credit card encryption is the adherence to security measures designed to protect sensitive information from being stolen during a financial transaction. It involves the security of the card itself as well as that of the credit card terminal that’s being used. Lastly, it governs the transmission of the data from the terminal to the credit card companies for approval. Encryption, in a nutshell, is the taking of specific data and turning it into a secret code that can’t be decoded without a decryption device. This allows for the secure transmission of the card holder’s sensitive personal data over vehicles like the internet. Making sure that your POS software and credit card terminals use encryption is essential to protecting yourself from hackers and potential breaches that could mean financial ruin for your business.
Cloud-Based POS Software
There are many benefits to choosing a cloud-based software and data security is one of the big ones. Using the cloud to store your data is much safer than backing up to an individual server. It’s also excellent for disaster recovery in the event of the unthinkable happening. It can mean the difference between a thriving business and one that has gone bankrupt. Credit and debit card data is secure in the cloud and transfers instantaneously. You always know where your data is and that it’s being maintained professionally. When deciding on which POS software to purchase, always do your research and make sure that you are going with a company that uses secure and reliable (redundant) hosting servers. And ask about up time history. Their service history is a great predictor of future reliability.
Subscription Based Software with Frequent Updates
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. The reason why this model works so well for ensuring secure data is because, so long as you choose a software that updates regularly, you’ll always have instant access to the latest security updates. No need to pay for costly and infrequent updates because most cloud-based software subscriptions include the cost of regular updates in the monthly subscription fee. These updates are free for the life of your plan. With technology evolving so rapidly, at times, it can be overwhelming just to try to keep up.
Security is now at the forefront of a lot of merchants’ minds and that is definitely a good thing. Your customers trust you with their important information and rely on you to protect them from those who would seek to harm them. In light of all of the recent successful attacks, it’s important that you act now to make sure that you’re PCI compliant, use data encryption, and are taking advantage of cloud-based subscription Point of Sale software with automatic updates.
Making sure that your credit and debit card transactions are secure will pay off in the long run and save you from potentially devastating mishaps.
As always, we are here to help. Let us know if you have any questions.
Total Merchant Supply is a POS Dealer based in NC & SC.