The PCI DSS Compliance applies to any size company accepting credit card payments. If your company or store wishes to accept card payment processing and transmit cardholder data, it means you must host the data securely. It means you must be PCI compliant.
The payment security council takes care of worldwide millions of people. It maintains, promotes, and evolves. The standards of the payment card industry are for cardholder data safety. It works with people associated with the payment cards. It includes merchant services in all sizes, point-of-sale vendors, financial institutions, and software and hardware developers creating and operating the processing payments for global infrastructure.
What PCI DSS Do?
The PCI DSS Compliance relates to work in two ways:
- Helps financial institutions and merchants in understanding and implementing security policies, standards and technologies. It aims to protect from theft and breaches of cardholder data during payment systems.
- Helps vendors in implementing and understanding the standards to create secure payment solutions.
PCI compliance does not offer any assurance about the infrastructure of a retailer for breaches. It asks you to follow the standards. As cybercriminals are more sophisticated, there is a need to stay careful of threats. The card number is the beginning that a hacker looks for, and with more data, the hacker tries to steal the complete profile. Thus, valuable data is lost.
Merchants must take a few measures to prevent POS systems from getting compromised. It means there is a need to adhere to PCI Compliance standards. Besides, preventing the cardholder’s data requires the businesses to:
- Keep a self-checkout kiosk or terminal
POS data gets stolen when the POS system is compromised by physically installing card skimmers or stealing the cardholder’s credentials on the self-checkout terminals left unmonitored. It takes a few seconds to steal the card data, and the PIN information is received from the card’s magnetic stripe directly. However, the new chip card introduction eliminates the card skimmers threat. Yet, the payment terminals of the retailers must update their payment terminals so that it accepts the chip cards. Even the EMV-enabled terminals may find it hard to accept chip cards as the POS software may have difficulty handling them. One must not leave the terminals unattended. It requires each store to have on-site personnel knowing the edge to spot card skimmers to supervise the self-checkout terminals or mobile credit card processing for any unwanted presence.
- Purchase POS Systems only from reputable dealers
Restaurants and retailers have thin profit margins, and the fast-food industry and the franchised restaurants operate on tight budgets. It may tempt beginners in this industry to look for small operators. Instead of risking your business, it is best to seek self-checkout systems at the best deal and purchase a POS system only from a reputable manufacturer who does not entertain fraudulent deals. It may cause financial ruin. The POS systems from reputable dealers ensure security and PCI compliance.
- Keep the OS and POS software up-to-date.
Cyber ecurity is always a battle, and experts keep finding new ways to keep the hackers away from accessing systems. It is the reason the POS software releases updates frequently to address the recent security threats. These updates ensure maximum protection. It needs downloading and installing the moment it is released. The concept applies to restaurants and retailers operating the system software running on Microsoft Windows to ensure they install the new patches as it is available.
- Change Manufacturers Default Passwords
Restaurants and retailers change the default password given by the manufacturer on receiving new hardware when linked to the POS system. The default passwords are most common and available publicly. It is well known to hackers, and the attacker will first try to access devices using the default passwords. If you forget to change it, you are at a great loss. Changing the manufacturer’s default passwords is to be compliant with PCI standards. The passwords of the software system require changing on installation and regularly.
- Isolate POS Systems
Many restaurants, retailers, and hotels offer their customers free Wi-Fi. The POS system should not get hooked to such networks. It is easy for a hacker to access the system. If the POS system in an organization is not aloof from the corporate network, anytime a hacker compromises the main network of an organization will access the entire POS system. A particular organization offering you the correct solutions as per your organization or business size and resources is the right choice. Determine the right solution with PCI Compliance fitting your needs and ensure to isolate POS Systems.
