Making sure that your business passes restaurant point of sale credit card PCI security audit
Security rules on credit cards for restaurants
A lot of restaurants is being penalized by the credit card industry for not sufficiently protecting their customers’ credit card info from the possibility of theft, with Visa, MasterCard and financial organizations that process electronic payment over the months are sending warning letters and conducting seminars. With these moves, it forces restaurants into taking in consideration additional steps on how to safeguard their customers’ credit card data.
According to companies that process card transactions, there are still tens of thousands of eateries that do not comply with the security rules set by the credit card industry. Any company that takes plastic is required to follow a set of security regulations instituted by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
In the data recorded by Visa indicates that since January of 2005, around 40% of incidents in which criminals gained unauthorized access to credit card information was made up of restaurants — providing the largest percentage of incidents for a merchant category.
Separately, there are reports from a Chicago-based data security auditor, AmbironTrustWave, for merchants that with the 62% security violations it witnessed during the prior 18 months are with the restaurant industry.
These violations includes various security lapses such as wireless networks that are poorly guarded — which enable thieves to access information from the parking lot using a laptop — as well as the lack of strictness to their systems that makes it a lot easier for a staff with criminal intention to steal credit card information.
Mostly, consumers are not aware when their credit card info is in danger. Not all security breaches produced successful fraud, and mostly, merchants do not recognize these incidents unless there is a significant likelihood that a major fraud will take place or has already been identified. Also, companies that issues credit cards don’t usually close a customer’s account unless fraud has taken place.
Restaurateurs may have a rough time with credit card security rules, since the regulations can be difficult for smaller merchants. Hearing from the restaurant owners who thought they complied with rules, the National Restaurant Association trade group found out their systems were not functioning properly and were penalized.
Over 0,000, in some cases, is the fine for restaurants that violated credit card industry rules by keeping credit card information. In 2006, Visa fined merchants across all categories .6 million for security violations, an increase from the .4 million in fines the previous year.
Visa, believes a merchant group needs additional attention, held special security briefings with several hundred restaurants.
At the same time, companies that process credit card transactions are also turning up the heat on restaurants. These credit card companies have threatened to end services to those that do not follow security regulations.
Most restaurants uses special software with features such as as tabulating bills, delivering orders to the kitchen and tracking reservations, credit card companies are worried because they cannot force software makers to abide by their security rules, so they put on the pressure to restaurants. Visa’s web site maintains a list of software programs that meet its requirements.
But software programmers that even with the best software, restaurants can still be in heaps of trouble if they disregard password protection or firewalls. For software companies, they say that it’s not up to them to let restaurateurs know what they must do to be in compliance with the security rules of the credit card industry.
The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience helping restaurants nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits using restaurant POS systems.
To learn on how our national POS network of restaurant point of sale experts can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times, visit POS-For-Restaurants.com.
Tags: Point of S, Point of Sale, POS, restaurant automation, restaurant computer, restaurant hardware, restaurant point of sale, Restaurant pos, restaurant pos equipment, restaurant pos quote, restaurant software
Management | admin | 
February 14, 2010 7:34 am
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