Upping the Ante on Payment Card Data Security

Why is payment card data so difficult to protect?

Payment card data security isn’t a new concept, yet businesses everywhere still can’t get it right. The payment card industry (PCI) has a growing body of standards, merchants and technology providers strive to follow them, and consumers continue to demand them.

But payment card data breaches still happen. Regularly. Why?

For merchants, the reality of everyday business demands cost-effective, hassle-free commerce. Therefore, merchants will always be driven toward technologies and processes that achieve this goal.

How does payment card data security extend beyond PCI compliance?

Over the last 10 years, ControlScan has assisted hundreds of thousands of businesses and their payment service providers with PCI compliance. We’ve focused on simplifying the process so that it is as straightforward and painless as possible, without sacrificing authenticity.

The issue at hand, however, is that PCI compliance—and the data security standard it follows—represents a baseline and not the be-all and end-all of payment card data security. Even so, many merchant businesses don’t have the wherewithal to fully comply, let alone maintain that compliance over time.

While the acquiring banks and processors have spent considerable time and money on the implementation of PCI compliance programs to assist their merchants, the number of breaches continues to increase. We firmly believe that managed security programs are the next step for these entities, and we’re beginning to see the adoption of those programs with our channel partners.

It’s no longer enough to “check the box” for compliance. Merchants must enlist third-party security experts to prevent data breaches, so that the compliance they are representing is real.

What is ControlScan doing to address the payment security gap?

We’re combining the expertise, technologies and services of two great companies so our customers can truly protect themselves and avoid falling victim to a data breach. From fully-managed Unified Threat Management (UTM) and firewalls, to fully-staffed logging and monitoring solutions, ControlScan is poised to deliver a complete suite of managed security services to lessen the burden for retailers lacking the necessary staff, or the expertise, to do it themselves.

That’s not to say the need for PCI compliance goes away; we will continue to bring merchants the high touch PCI services we are known for, while helping them provide the necessary compliance reporting to their acquiring banks and processors. We’re also advancing the managed services conversation within the payments industry, thanks to in-house thought leaders like Tom Wimsett, Steve Robb, Chris Bucolo and Marc Punzirudu.

To learn more about how managed security services help businesses go “all in” on payment card data security, check out our Tiny Effort, Enormous Results webinar.