Originally published September 23 2005
New standards for credit cards attempt to decrease identity theft
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Now referred to as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, credit card companies are encouraging all businesses accepting credit cards to install a firewall, change default passwords, protect stored data, use antivirus software and encrypt transmissions of data across public networks.
Heffner, who operates a small travel agency out of the town of Clarksburg, about 30 miles south of state capital Sacramento, doesn't book for these customers.
Heffner was among a few dozen merchants attending a seminar on credit cards and fraud here on Thursday.
With data security breaches, identity theft and credit card fraud often in the headlines, these merchants came to get some tips on what they can do to protect consumer data and their own businesses.
These rules, called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, went into effect earlier this year but have been criticized because of a lack of enforcement.
"Anybody who accepts payment cards can be the target of criminals," Joe Majka, vice president of fraud control at Visa, told the audience.
"My clients are technically illiterate," he said at the event, happy with the overview of security options given by Visa.
The perception may be that criminals target online stores to steal credit card data, but the reality is that traditional retailers are more popular targets, he said.
That's because sellers in offline transactions usually swipe the actual credit card.
"Criminals want the data that is on the card's magnetic stripe," Majka said.
"The majority of data security breach incidents reported to Visa have involved retail merchants, not Internet merchants," Majka said.
Earlier this year, information on more than 1.4 million credit card and 96,000 check transactions was stolen from 108 DSW shoe stores.
A list of software that has been shown to comply with Visa's data security standards is available on Visa's Web site.
Credit card security was also spotlighted in June, when MasterCard International reported that information on more than 40 million cards was stolen from CardSystems Solutions, a payment processor.
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