With all of the security breaches and stories of hackers successfully getting into data systems, it should come as no surprise that consumers are demanding increased levels of security for their personal information. One of the problems with keeping consumer data secure is the fact that so many different databases are storing the information.
Obviously, the more places your information is stored, the more vulnerable it is to hackers looking to make a quick buck at someone else’s expense. Therefore, the National Retail Federation is working to try to determine a better method of storage to keep consumers information more protected.
One of the problems is that credit card companies actually require that their retailers store this information. In addition, there are many reasons for consumers to want retailers to keep this information on file as well. Namely, it makes it far more convenient for you if you need to take an item back to a store because the clerk can quickly and easily bring up your transaction information in order to credit your account. At the same time, having your information remain in one more database puts you at increased odds of having your personal information compromised.
I am no credit card security expert, but I certainly agree that additional steps need to be taken in order to keep consumer information safe. The National Retail Federation is proposing that the credit card companies be the ones to maintain database storage, which seems like a reasonable proposal to me. In this manner, the database will be centrally stored with the credit card issuers rather than on several different databases, resulting in fewer databases containing your personal information and fewer places that data can be compromised.
Of course, the expense of maintaining these databases would likely be passed on to the retailers in the form of increased interchange fees, but it just might be worth it since retailers will not have to worry about keeping their databases secured or about being sued by consumers when something goes wrong.
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