The Importance of Securing Payments

There are a lot of moving parts when you are running your own business, and one item that many business owners forget about is payment security. This may not seem like a big deal, but the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report reported a cyber-attack can cost a business $200,000, which could mean closing your doors. There are steps you can take to prevent this from happening to you.

In today’s blog we will discuss the importance of payment security and what you should look for in terms of security and fit when choosing a payment processor.

To sign up for integrated payments with Bluefin and RepairQ today, visit our landing page.

Payment Security

According to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), in 2019, 28% of small businesses were involved in a data breach.  To keep your customer’s data safe, take the following steps:

• Devalue the data – Sensitive payment transaction data should be devalued as it is being accepted at the point-of-sale (POS) so that it can’t be used to commit fraud.  Data is devalued by using encryption technology.
• Protect data – All employees who are involved in the payment’s ecosystem should be required to protect sensitive data from compromise.
• Updated operating systems – It is crucial that your network has all of the latest security updates. Fraudsters are always coming up with new ways to hack into a system.

Choosing the Right Payment Processor

There are a lot of payment processors to choose from, however, not all provide the same services and data protection. Below are some tips on choosing a payment processor:

• Understanding how the processor will charge you – is it a flat fee or a monthly services fee?
• Is the processor compliant with PCI PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) regulations? PCI specifies that a merchant’s payment ecosystem must be inventoried, documented and secured. Bluefin is not only compliant with PCI PCI-DSS, we also can make things easier for our customers by reducing the 333 Questions in the PCI SAQ D or ROC to 33 with our PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution, provided through RepairQ.
• Does the processor offer encryption and tokenization technology? It is necessary to have these solutions in place so that if you are breached, bad actors will not get any valuable information. Bluefin has payment and data security products that will help you “devalue” your customers’ data.

How Payment Processing works with RepairQ 

Check out our next blog, where we will discuss how integrated payment processing works with RepairQ software.

About Bluefin

Bluefin is a leader in providing simple, easy to implement payment and data security products for today’s omni-channel SMB, including mobile, retail, and Ecommerce solutions backed by our PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solution – helping to protect all in-person and online transactions. To find out more about our industry-leading payment solutions, contact Bluefin today