It seems that the credit card industry is finally going to start cracking down on retailers that fail to comply with their required security measures. If you recall, I wrote about this problem quite awhile ago. Although the credit card companies were attempting to tighten up security with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard known as PCI, many retailers were not carrying out their end of the bargain. And even though so many were not in compliance, Visa and MasterCard did not follow through with their threats of hitting those non-compliant merchants with fees and penalties.
In accordance with PCI standards, retailers will be required to put firewalls in place and other security measures that will help protect their systems from hackers. In addition, retailers are forbidden to store certain pieces of information that make it easier for hackers to make purchases and create fraudulent cards with consumer information.
It’s not like this is anything new. In fact, the credit card companies gave the retailers plenty of time to start implementing these changes. Nonetheless, the retailers have been responding slowly to the standards. According to Visa, only 44% of the 327 largest merchants have bothered to validate that they are in compliance – despite the fact that the original deadline was months ago.
Visa won’t disclose who is in compliance and who is not, mostly because announcing this information would make it easier for thieves to determine which retailers they should target. Nonetheless, there are a few signs you can watch for that will give you a good idea of who is in compliance. For example, the cash register should not be an old-fashioned design with a green computer screen and the card-swipe devices should be tamper-proof. If not, this most likely is not the only security problem the retailer has. The same is true of those retailers that are still printing more than just the last five digits of account numbers on receipts.
If you’re shopping online, you should look for sites with special “credit card guard” insignias or that state that they are a “PCI Tested” web site. Soon, ComplyGuard Networks, a company hired by retailers to conduct testing on their systems, will start issuing “no-fraud zone” stickers that will also help you determine whether or not a brick and mortar establishment is in compliance.
Related Posts:
- Visa Aware of TJX Security Issues Prior to Breach - It just seems funny to me that Visa is now handing down fines to TJX and its affiliates considering the story I...
- Concerns Over Mobile Operators Security Compliance - Recently, Vesta, a company with expertise in electronic payments since 1995, conducted a survey of 18 American and European mobile network operators...
- PCI DSS Credit Card Data Security Extends To The Cloud - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was originally created exclusively to protect credit card data. But PCI DSS can be...
- Verizon Says Card Security Only Getting Worse - A recent report by Verizon has recently said that businesses that accept both credit and debit cards aren’t maintaining compliance with PCI...