Wednesday, October 24, 2012

New twist in payment card security

The security breach at Barnes & Noble stores is noteworthy, because of the interesting twist in this story.  We in the payments industry have always believed that online payments were the hairy ones, with payments made at stores safe and secure, especially when you enter your PIN.

The breach at Barnes & Noble retail outlets occurred due to tampered PIN Pads (in less than about 10% of their stores).  Guess what, their online stores are safe and secure.

Key takeaway points to retailers:
  • Nothing is intrinsically safe or unsafe
  • You have to work to make your systems safe, and keep them that way
  • Fraudsters are always out to get you (sounding paranoid, huh!)
Please drop in a note of any other noteworthy points from the above news item.  Would love to hear from you.