5 Ways You Can Protect Sensitive Payment Data

5 Ways You Can Protect Sensitive Payment Data

With all the data breaches we keep reading about, credit cards and personal information has made consumers concerned. If you’re an internet business that uses online payment gateways; here’s what you should be doing to handle your customer’s credit card and personal information.

Safeguard Your Customer’s Information

As a business that uses a merchant services provider for credit card processing, you’re legally bound to protect your customer’s credit card information. Ecommerce businesses sign a contract that has a clause about being PCI Compliant where it’s your duty, as a business, to safeguard the customer’s account information, especially if you use third-party software.

Use PCI Approved Equipment

Whether you use integrated payment solutions or non-integrated ones, you have to ensure all of your hardware and software abides by the PCI guidelines. There are plenty of applications and POS Solutions out there that have security risks attached to them. Always choose reputable vendors and merchants as their products go through rigorous testing before being released.

Never Save Credit Card Number or Magnetic Strip Data

A card’s security number, also known as CID, CSC, CCV, or CSC, is a three-digit number at the back of a credit/debit card (or a four-digit number on the front of an American Express card). It’s used to let merchants know if a customer is authorizing a transaction or not.

The magnetic strip on the back of the credit card also contains sensitive information about the card, which is not displayed elsewhere. This ensures that the data isn’t counterfeited.

This means you shouldn’t be storing any security codes or tracking data — credit card processing regulations forbid it.

Encrypt All Account Numbers

If, in some situations, you have to store credit card numbers, keep proof. For physical documents containing card numbers, lock them in a secure place. If you store credit card numbers electronically, ensure that they are always encrypted using a secure encryption algorithm.

Encrypt Any Phone Recordings Containing Account Numbers

Many businesses use recorded phone calls to keep proof of payments. This creates a huge vulnerability where you’re creating an entire database full of credit card numbers and their security codes. Make sure these calls are encrypted instantly. It’s also a good idea to ensure there is no text-to-speech software linked to the storage system as it’ll make all the numbers accessible.

Looking for a reliable merchant services provider? We, at CardLogic, are a merchant service for online businesses offering payment processing solutions. From POS solutions to credit card processing, we offer it all.