When a customer hands you their credit card, they are giving you more than just a piece of plastic—they’re handing over their personal information and account details for the credit card, making them vulnerable to data breaches and identity theft if the transaction is not secure. Credit card fraud and identity theft cost US consumers $16 billion in 2016 alone.

Luckily for consumers, credit card companies take security just as seriously as they do and have measures in place to ensure that information is securely transmitted between their card and the processing bank. As the mediator between consumers and banks, it’s vital that your business plays its part in transmitting secure transactions. Here are a few things you should know to make sure of this.

PCI Compliance

PCI Compliance refers to the security standards set by the Payment Card Industry for electronic transactions and is mandated by card associations to ensure your business is accepting, processing, storing, or transmitting information securely. The steps to becoming PCI Compliant include a self-questionnaire that asks things like what equipment you use to process, what your connection is, and whether you store any of the information you receive. It also may require a scan of your connection to ensure it is secure. Merchant Service Group LLC can answer questions you may have about becoming compliant and also provides a hotline to assist you in completing the questionnaire.

EMV Compliance

This is one security measure you don’t have to think much about. Nearly all credit card processing equipment comes with an EMV chip reader now, and as more credit card companies are switching to EMV chip cards, more processors are making it mandatory to use the EMV chip when possible. You may have noticed this when you try to slide your card at other businesses and it asks you to insert the card instead. EMV provides added security through microchip technology that keeps data safe from identity thieves hoping to steal your customer’s credit card information.

Using EMV technology also provides greater protection for you against chargebacks and may help prevent fraud in this way.

Secure Online Payment Processing

Fraud is a much bigger issue when it comes to online credit card payments. In addition to being PCI Compliant you can also do the following to increase the security of your customers’ online payments:

·       Use SSL protocol. SSL certificates give your website greater security by encrypting the data being transferred from customers to the website. Customers can see this added security through a green address bar or padlock that is displayed on the address bar.

·       Tokenization. Tokenization replaces sensitive data with a randomly generated string of characters. Choosing a payment gateway with tokenization means you can reduce the risk of data breach.

Wireless Network

If your terminal runs through a wireless connection, it must be PCI Compliant like any other connection. There are also ways you can increase the security of your Wi-Fi such as selecting a strong password, allowing a restricted amount of people to use the Wi-Fi, and making sure your wireless network is encrypted and authenticated.

Merchant Service Group LLC offers peace of mind through a range of secure payment solutions including EMV compliant terminals and payment gateways with the proper security tools, along with support in becoming and maintaining your PCI Compliance. Our customer service is available 24/7 for any concerns you may have about the security of your account and transactions.

For more information, please email us at hello@merchantservicegroupllc.com