With contactless and digital payments becoming the new norm, it is critical for your business to keep up with the evolution of technology and provide secure transactions for your customers. A breach of sensitive information can result in costly consequences such as identity theft, fraud, lawsuits, and weaker customer relationships.
Consumers want to shop with trustworthy sellers, and a secure payment system can enhance payment data protection. True POS provides the best security and privacy protections for your business and customers without sacrificing quality or efficiency. In this blog, we’ll explain how a POS service can improve your business’ data security and privacy so that you can operate knowing your bottom line and consumers are secured.
Common Threats to Security
Some of the most common threats to your business are:
- Malware and hackers
- Fraudulent payments
- Human errors
The great thing about a POS system is that it can defend against digital threats such as hackers and malicious software by using built-in security features such as encryption, and it can prevent illegitimate payments from going through with advanced card readers that process authentication and verification tasks in seconds.
Data Encryption
One way that POS systems guarantee secure transactions is through data encryption. Data encryption turns data into code only decipherable by permitted devices, ensuring that unauthorized users are blocked and prevented from accessing, intercepting, or modifying sensitive data.
Encryption should occur at every step of the payment process so if one component gets compromised, the data is still protected. The more encryption you have across the payment process, the more layers of protection you’ll have against malicious intruders.
Secure Payment Gateways
The bridge between an e-commerce platform or card reader and the credit card processing network is a payment gateway. A POS system can provide secure payment gateways for your online and in-store customers by guaranteeing encryption for credit card information before the purchase is verified. Payment gateways typically use SSL/TLS encryption to protect data transmission between the POS and the server.
Tokenization
Payment gateways also offer tokenization, another security feature that protects customer data. Similar to encryption, it provides a way to codify sensitive information. Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with a unique identifier or "token." When a customer submits their credit card information to you, the payment gateway replaces the credit card number with a token stored in a secure database. Tokenization ensures that sensitive data is not stored on the merchant's servers, reducing the risk of data leaks.
Online Payment Security
Since your online marketplace is also a cog in your POS system, it has some security advantages. Although trust signals show your customers that you’re a trustworthy seller, additional features such as payment verification and payment authentication can fortify your website with secure transactions.
By offering secure payment verification, a POS system ensures that payments are received from a verified source and safely processed with encryption.
Another security mechanism is payment authentication. Authentication guarantees that the person paying with customer information is authorized to do so, adding another layer of security by filtering out bad actors trying to use someone else’s financial information without permission.
Enhanced Payment Fraud Prevention
Unfortunately, customers aren’t the only ones with a target on their backs. Your establishment is also at risk of encountering fraud. However, businesses can improve payment fraud detection and safeguard themselves from fraudulent schemes with upgraded POS technologies.
Standard requests such as debit card PIN codes or credit card CVV numbers are solutions to verify online or brick-and-mortar purchases, but POS terminals have advanced enough to catch and decline fraudulent transactions in a heartbeat.
Advanced EMV chip readers and NFC (near-field communication/contactless payment) technologies are commonplace within POS systems. Complying with industry standards, enhanced readers offer new security features that can detect counterfeit cards and instantly generate payment verification to ensure that the payment method you’re receiving is legitimate.
So how does it work? The newest readers utilize the power of POS data collection. EMV and NFC readers use machine learning algorithms to analyze transaction data and identify patterns and anomalies that may indicate fraudulent activity. When a POS system picks up an anomaly at the point of sale, it’s stored in its memory for future reference and becomes a part of the pattern recognition.
Taking Payment Security Into Your Own Hands
The first line of defense against payment fraud is you, the business owner. A POS system can do a great job of preventing digital threats, and although there are layers of protection to safeguard from the consequences of human error, it can’t stop it from happening. Here are some ways to help your POS system defend your business:
Compliance With Industry Standards
Data privacy compliance is the gold standard for every POS system. To assure the highest level of security, True POS complies with industry regulations and standards. This certifies that the systems we implement are safe to process customer payments. However, you and your employees must also be compliant. Be sure to train your employees properly on credit card security to avoid information leaks at the human level. For example, you should never physically store anyone’s payment information — let your POS securely store it for you.
Secure Your POS System With Passwords
Simply put, securing your POS and payment gateways with passwords can go a long way in making sure that unauthorized users stay out of your system. Without a set password, anyone can access your POS by getting a hold of your tablet, phone, or device used to process payments.
Keep Your POS Software Up to Date
Software updates are another simple solution that can help you avoid a data leak. Hackers are always trying to find new ways to access your data. As a result, POS systems require definition updates to defend against new threats. Stay on top of your security by keeping your system up to date.
Secure Your Network
POS systems can defend against digital attacks, but there’s no such thing as too safe. We highly recommend running your POS system on a password-protected, private network to keep unwanted users out. You may also want to consider investing in a VPN to secure your Wi-Fi data, which adds another layer of encryption security to your POS network. Never use a public wireless network or hotspot to host your POS.
Stay Internet Smart
There can never be too much caution. To defend against malware or unwanted access on the front line, avoid opening suspicious download links, files, or phishing scams while on your POS device.
Secure Your Customer Data With True POS
With True POS, secure and safe transactions have never been easier. Don’t let security concerns take you away from your customers. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more about how we protect your business and take advantage of new and improved security features!
