E-Commerce Offers New Avenues for Payment Acceptance 1-800-Flowers is paving the way, yet again, for retailers to reach consumers via E-Commerce. The company has jumped on the Facebook bandwagon and is taking advantage of the viral social networking phenomenon. In late July, they became the first store to sell their products directly through Facebook, via […]
If you have seen a sign like this at a retail store, you are not alone. No matter what the sign says, if a merchant accepts credit or debit cards, you are allowed to use any card they accept for a purchase of any amount. Merchants cannot, in any case, impose minimum or maximum purchase […]
The latest news about Heartland Payment Systems’ 2008 security breach revealed some alarming, yet important, issues about the reporting of breaches and responsibility of the players involved in data security. Heartland’s 2008 data breach is supposedly the largest breach of that year, but not the only one hit by the same hacker. According to Bob Carr, CEO […]
As a merchant, you accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. You have learned that each card brand has its own set of data security standards guidelines. So, which one do you follow? Good news! The card industry has made that decision for you. A Little History The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) was […]
Online business attracts more buyers each year. The internet has become a way to eliminate the costly overhead associated with retail store fronts. Internet sales are expected to rise by as much as 11 percent in 2009. With a greater number of merchandise being sold on the internet, businesses are more susceptible to fraud and […]
The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council is always creating new and effective versions of PCI DSS. The most recent of such compliance standards is version 1.2 which has 12 requirements for enhancing payment account security. These requirements are designed to address a broad range of data security, from software design to policies and procedures. Version […]
Password security is important within your online network security and knowing the different types of identity theft is great, but what are the best ways to prevent identity theft? Many believe that PCI compliance does not affect them because they are not a payment processor or don’t run a gateway. This is a common mistake and can […]
Part one of this series talked about identity thieves wanting your password, and we discussed ways to protect against having your passwords compromised. Securing your password seems to be only 25 percent of the battle these days. Many network security attacks and breaches, like the Heartland Breach, occurred from within. So it is important to be PCI […]
The word “hacker” is often associated with the terms crime and fraud. However, hackers can be a good defense against online fraud, such as the “white hat” hackers that work to prevent fraud and fight identity theft. Unfortunately, white hat hackers aren’t as common as criminal hackers. It is important to first understand what different types of […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced that “creditors” will not have to worry about fines associated with non compliance with Red Flag Rules until May 1st 2009. A creditor is defined as any entity that extends, renews, or continues credit and any entity that regularly arranges for the extension, renewal, or continuation of credit. For example, mortgage brokers, […]
