Credit card security
Hackers want your cardholder data. If you’re not careful with your credit card data you may be racking up big processing fees because of negligent handling of personal credit card information!
Here’s why PCI compliance is a must:
- Noncompliance fines—banks and credit cards levy fines ranging between five-thousand and FIVE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND dollars!
- Merchant Credit Card Account Suspension
- Loss of Reputation
- Loss of Customer Trust
All serious consequences of not protecting credit card data!
Just take a look at this credit card—EVERYTHING circled is data you MUST protect:
You need to keep a lot of information safe: Primary Account Number, Authentication Data—all there is to impersonate your cardholders and steal their identity.
Can you risk non-compliance and a tarnished reputation?
You’re probably asking, “But how in the heck are thieves getting to my data?”
The reality is there are many ways to get to your client’s credit card data:
- Compromised Card Reader
- Papers, Invoices, Bills stored in filing cabinets
- Data in payment system database
- Hidden camera recording entry of authentication data
- Hacks into your wireless or wired networks
Now for the big question. What needs to be secured?
The sad reality is ANYTHING containing even a hint of personal info needs to be secure. And even if that data is split up across your network, thieves are smart- especially when it comes to data. If they can break into big banks, big governments and manipulate everything from printers to stealing identities of US government employees, what makes you think they can’t piece together your data?
That means you need to take BIG precautions:
Protect your:
- Card readers
- POS (Point Of Sales) systems
- Store networks and wireless access points
- Payment card data storage and transmission
- Payment card data stored in paper storage
- Online payment applications and shopping carts
That’s a lot of different safeguards to protect! And while taking IT data and network security measures to shore up security is a must nowadays, so is training your staff to recognize and comply to better protect sensitive personal information.
That means training your staff on a ton of issues:
[NOTE: this list is not even complete.. And worse, it’s growing as we speak!]
- Phishing Scams
- Phone Scams
- Password
- Wi Fi Dangers
- Clean Desk Policies
- Internal and External Threats
- PII Threats and Real Life Examples
Don’t think for a minute that thieves will let you take a minute to think over what you need to do to be compliant. You need information and action NOW to prevent losing client trust, tarnishing your reputation and paying for a pending breach.
If you’re a Dynamic Edge client, you have the strength and knowledgebase of experienced security experts. We are announcing a new addition to your resources- PCI compliance for your team—to keep them informed and to cover your bases in the event thieves find you an easy target.
Contact me TODAY about an opportunity to get your team up to speed with latest breach techniques and what they need to do to keep your business, your clients and your team data safe from unsuspecting threats.
