ControlScan Blog


Posts published by: Chris Bucolo



May 17, 2020Published by

It struck me recently that there are interesting parallels for a business trying to deal with all the shots coming out of COVID-19, both early on and over time. They were fast and furious at the beginning; I am sure we all agree. But what does the small business threat landscape look like now?

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March 12, 2020Published by

After leaving the March 2-5 conference, I ate lunch at an open seating restaurant at the airport. Over lunch I educated two people on the latest Intelligence on credit card security and fraud, armed with new stats and insights I’d picked up at the MAC Level Up conference. This was proof positive that MAC delivers as it relates to educational content and relevance. In this post, I will share my biggest takeaways from the conference.

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March 20, 2019Published by

Counterfeit payment cards, stolen payment cards, use of an assumed identity to complete a credit card application… these are easily-recognizable examples of payment card fraud. When a fraud incident occurs in the retail setting, it’s often contained with only small losses occurring to the merchant involved. But what happens when a payment card data breach occurs at that same business? Are its causes and consequences basically the same?

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October 31, 2018Published by

Once an obscure processing model for special situations, the business of payment facilitation is now burgeoning. There are many benefits to becoming a payment facilitator, including increased control over the user experience. Unfortunately, the same qualities that serve as benefits often raise the payment facilitator’s PCI risk.

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November 15, 2016Published by

Third party relationships make your life easier in a multitude of ways, from streamlining processes, to providing additional human resources, to ensuring operational efficiency. Unfortunately, these relationships also introduce increased business risk related to data security and compliance.If one or more of your third party vendors doesn’t maintain a strong security posture and is consequently compromised, your business could very well end up sharing the burden of recovery. Read this ControlScan blog post for three steps you can take to lessen your business’s third party risk.

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December 2, 2014Published by

Last week, Inc.com featured a great piece by Electronic Transactions Association CEO Jason Oxman. “A Cybersecurity Checklist for Online Retailers” lists important steps online startups and small businesses can take to protect sensitive data. As the U.S. migrates to EMV (i.e., chip cards), it is expected that fraud activity in the world of ecommerce will increase significantly.

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October 22, 2014Published by

The small- to medium-sized business owners I talk with are often surprised to learn that ControlScan hears from everyday consumers on a regular basis. The questions we are asked share a common theme: I’m worried that this business is not properly securing my personal information.

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October 20, 2014Published by

Lately it seems we’ve been operating in a world of “another week, another breach.” The constant bombardment of news featuring our favorite brands getting hacked typically creates one of two reactions: “Yeah, but I’m a little shop, so that can’t happen to me” or “I might as well not bother trying to prevent the inevitable.”

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