How to Maintain Security with Card Machines and Protect Your Customers

A business that offers card payments to its customers, unfortunately also has to come across cyber theft and fraud. This fraud not only steals money from the customers but also causes damage to the business financially and reputation-wise.

What is a card machine?

A card machine or a PDQ machine is a digital payment method that businesses use to accept debit or credit card payments. Whether a business offers online card payments to its digital storefront or has a card machine in the physical store to process noncash payments, a card machine provider is needed in both cases that gives a platform to accept payments for your business.

Why does card machine security matter

When customers purchase your products, whether on your online store or through your physical outlet, they are trusting you with their sensitive financial information. As a business, it is your responsibility to keep the information safe on your end so that cyber thieves can’t get their hands on them. By protecting your customers, you are building trust with your customers and making them comfortable with using credit and debit cards with your business in the future too.

10 ways to maintain the security of your card machine

Here are the 9 ways that can help you be updated with the security standards

PCI DSS compliance

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a set of rules for businesses in the UK that guides them on how to store user data. When a business is PCI DSS compliant, it means that it follows industry security standards, is reliable and there are fewer chances of information breach.

Encryption

Make sure that your card machine uses a two-way encryption method. Through encryption, important customer data like the card number, expiry date, and CVV are scrambled in a sequence that only the authorised person can understand. So communicating across banks is easier with a lesser chance of theft.

Keep the card machine safe physically

If you use your card machine in your store, make sure it is secured in a place that is mostly accessible to the staff. If you keep your card machine by the cashier, make sure it is placed under the counter so no one can temper it. Look out for any additional hardware, or stickers.

Educate your employees

Give knowledge to your employees about possible ways information theft takes place. Moreover, let them know the severity of the situation, and that they are handling important data. Teach them how to recognise unusual activity, and to follow the security protocols

Chip and PIN

Unlike swipe-based systems, the Chip and PIN payment options add a layer of security where the customer has to enter his password. Before this method, payments were made in a way where the customer would sign on a paper for the cashier to compare with the actual signature on the card. The chances of forged signatures were higher as it was not a secure method of payment.

CVV check

Enable CVV to check for your customers.CVV code is a three-word specific code that is mentioned on the physical credit or debit card. By doing this, you can make sure the person making the payment actually possesses the card.

Tokenisation

Tokenisation is another tool used to secure data during a transaction. When a customer makes a transaction to when it is processed and confirmed, the customer’s data needs to be communicated across the banks to authorise the payment. During this process, tokenisation comes in handy as it disrupts the original sequence of the customer’s data to a useless piece of information that can’t be backtracked to the original data and can only be decoded by an authorised entity.

Store information for future use

Make sure your business is storing authorised data for future use. Some customers don’t allow to store information for future payment, a business can’t store the information in that case.

Benefits of having secure card payment systems

Build trust with customers

When you offer secure payments to your customers, they find you trustworthy for future use too

Leverage against competitors

When a business consistently shows up for its customers and protects their sensitive information, it not only builds a good reputation for the business but also gives an advantage against other competitors that might not be offering secure debit and credit card payments.

Avoid fraud

By avoiding fraud and theft, you are not only protecting your customers but also yourself. It’s not only the customers that get affected by cyber theft, businesses are also greatly affected. So when you keep yourself up to date with the business standards, you can protect your customers, and expand your customer base by offering noncash payment methods and also keep your business secure and trustworthy.

Keep your business and customers secure by choosing a reliable PDQ machine provider. Get help from ComparedBusiness to choose the best card machine provider for your business.