Data theft is a very real danger for businesses. If you’ve ever worried about your data when purchasing a product, self-certified merchants run the same risk on an exponentially larger scale for their customer base.
Think of it this way: just like banks are targets of traditional robbers to steal money, businesses who store cardholder’s data and employ poor security protocols or compensating controls become marks for digital thieves who can breach crucial customer information.
Here’s why your businesses should be concerned with keeping your financial system secure.
To Maintain Your Customer’s Trust
As the cliché goes, customers are the heart and soul of your businesses. As you scale your business and utilize more convenient point-of-sale payment systems, you will find that insurance works as well as efficiency for onboarding customers. It only takes one transaction to store their data, so whether they’re purchasing only once or many times, they will still need to know that your system is secure.
Otherwise, not only will it mean losses in customer base and profits, but you might also be looking at a lawsuit once courts have confirmed a data breach. As a business, you do not want to dent your reputation this way.
To Comply with the PCI DSS
Speaking of legal repercussions, the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) also legally ensures that businesses have data protection in place for the entire card-processing pipeline. In a case of a data breach, a business may incur penalties from the Federal Trade Commission upon a timely audit.
Atop of this, the business may also be penalized by financial institutions managing the breached cardholder’s data on the grounds of infringement and non-compliance to security standards. Exposing your business to such a risk will not only mar your name but will inevitably cost you a lot of money to settle. Compliance to PCI DSS, therefore, not only protects your customer but only protects your business from
To Protect Your Profits
If you’re a small business, you might be compelled to consider cheaper security options. You may not have the time, talent, or resource to build one, or your hardware isn’t yet able to accommodate your main security protocol. So you resort to more manual security efforts like custom monitoring and issuing data breach insurances to your customers.
While these are good pre-emptive solutions, these are essentially band-aid measures. What’s worse is that these might hurt your revenues as they will ultimately cost you more in the long run than if you acquired a fully-automated security system.
To Stay Ahead in Your Industry
Studies tell us that 81% of businesses store payment card numbers, while 53% store pertinent customer information. That’s a lot of businesses at risk of financial fraud.
Yet cases of data theft remain rampant. Businesses are still at risk of breaches, with cardholders still crowding in the dark as to how their information is being managed and protected.
How secure a business’ financial system is, is what will determine not only its scalability but its longevity. The lesser vulnerabilities your business has, the more time it has to improve other important things such as staffing, branding, service, or product line. It’s all about priorities.
If you’re just a small or starting business, regardless of the industry, take time to explore your data protection options. As financial transactions get simpler by the day, so does the danger of getting pertinent data stolen. Make security an urgent matter to set your business for life.
