Enhancing payment data security: Strategies for SMBs

In today's digital age, securing your payment data couldn’t be more crucial. With the dominance of online transactions and digital payments, the threat landscape has expanded, making it more important than ever for businesses of all sizes to prioritize the security of their customers' payment information.

Let’s dive into the most significant threats to payment data security, dispel some common misconceptions and explore practical security measures businesses should adopt to stay safe. By understanding and implementing these strategies, your business can significantly enhance your security posture and protect against ever-evolving threats.

Significant threats to payment data security

Payment data security is under constant threat from numerous sources. But knowledge is power, so familiarize yourself with these notable threats:

• Data breaches. These can occur due to malware, phishing attacks or system vulnerabilities, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive payment information.
• Insider threats. Malicious or negligent employees pose significant risks by potentially mishandling or intentionally leaking payment data.
• Payment card skimming. Devices that capture card information can be clandestinely attached to payment terminals.
• Ransomware attacks. These attacks involve hackers holding payment data hostage in exchange for a ransom.

Common misconceptions about payment data security

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about payment data security, and if you’re basing your security practices on a preconceived notion, you’re opening your business up to potential risk.

For example, one of the most common misconceptions about payment data security is that visiting websites using HTTPS ensures complete security of payment data (i.e., the URL begins with https://). While HTTPS encrypts data in transit, it doesn't guarantee the security of data once it's stored or processed.

Another misconception is that small businesses are not common targets for cyberattacks. This false narrative is likely because cyberattacks are under-reported by SMBs. In reality, small businesses often face more attacks because they may have weaker security measures compared to larger enterprises, with 41% of small businesses reporting that they’ve been the victim of a cyberattack.

Strategies for enhancing payment data security

From technological safeguards to human firewalls, protecting payment data requires a multi-layered approach. Here are a few ways businesses can enhance their payment data security:

1. Encrypt your payment data

Encryption is a process that converts data into a secure format using a key, making it unreadable without decryption. This technique is essential for protecting data both at rest and in transit. All transmissions of sensitive business data should be encrypted.

Tokenization is another way to transmit information securely. This technique replaces sensitive data with unique identification symbols (aka tokens) that maintain essential information without exposing the actual data. Intercepted tokens are useless to attackers, thus reducing the risk of data theft.

Using PCI DSS-compliant payment processors is essential for ensuring you adhere to industry-standard security measures.

2. Educate your employees

Employees are also critical in maintaining payment data security. Regular training on security protocols, phishing identification, secure handling of customer data and prompt reporting of suspicious activities is essential. The best frontline defense against security breaches is an educated and vigilant workforce.

4. Keep up with updates

Conduct regular software updates and build processes that ensure your employees are doing the same. Keeping software and systems updated helps patch vulnerabilities.

4. Work with a trusted payment processor

Partnering with a secure payment processor is your best line of defense for protecting payment data. For example, Deluxe offers robust solutions to protect payment data for its clients including:

• Secure payment processing: This includes encryption, tokenization, and comprehensive fraud prevention measures.
• Secure storage: Deluxe ensures sensitive payment information is securely stored.
• Industry standards compliance: Adherence to PCI DSS standards helps ensure high levels of security compliance.

To protect yours and your customers’ payment data, a multi-faceted approach of encryption techniques, employee education and trusted partners is essential for enhancing your payment data security.