Fraud is on the rise. With deep pockets and creative minds, fraudsters and cybercriminals are becoming increasingly organized, sophisticated, and focused on the low hanging fruit that exists within the retail space.

The security playbook has widened, and now includes EMV, PCI DSS, and point-to-point encryption (P2PE), with new regulations such as PSD2’S SCA tightening up vulnerabilities. In addition, robust anti-fraud solutions are now part of most card acceptance POS and payment gateways.

As the data protection battle continues, there are some strong security patterns emerging:

• CNP payment fraud will continue to rise and fraudsters will get increasingly sophisticated

Squeezed out of the traditional payment chain, criminals are increasingly targeting remote Customer Not Present (CNP) transactions where shoppers’ data is especially vulnerable.
According to Juniper Research, online payment fraud will top $22 billion this year—and could reach $48 billion by 2023. Fraudulent attacks are becoming more sophisticated using tactics such as phishing, ID theft, pagejacking, wire scams, and merchant ID fraud. In 2020, watch out for ‘imposter bots’ that exploit the growth of AI-driven chatbots for online customer support to draw out payment details and other sensitive information from established retail websites.

• Tokenization will become more widespread as merchants seek to secure the payment chain while delivering more personalized and connected services (including IoT)

Tokenization replaces sensitive payment data with a randomly generated token that lets their transaction be tracked and their ‘footprint’ remembered making it ideal for CRM, loyalty and personalized promotions. The merchant does not touch, or store payment data and fraudsters can’t reverse the token to access account details. By 2020 it’s expected that there will be 20 billion IoT devices, a proportion of these will no doubt facilitate transactions too, creating a whole new window of opportunity for fraudsters. Tokens can be used across all channels and can even facilitate transactions between devices in IoT environments.

• New forms of authentication will emerge fueled by PSD2’s SCA requirement which comes into effect in 2019 (EU) and 2020 (UK)

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) will soon become essential for retailers in order to ensure compliance with PSD2. Each transaction will require two different types of authentication taken from three criteria (something you own, something you know and something unique to you). With a physical card and a PIN, EMV already meets the criteria. However, for CNP and online transactions, it’s not so easy, with extra passwords and registrations increasing friction and possibly dropped sales at the checkout. To prevent this, merchants may turn to ‘customer-familiar’ smartphones and biometrics to ease the process. They will be supported by the likes of MasterCard, who are already championing biometric authentication.

• Anti-fraud solutions will deliver better security decisions with less friction for legitimate buyers

Advanced, risk-based decision-making for e-commerce will help to reduce CNP fraud using updated standards from EMV 3D-Secure. Examining 10 times more risk factors than before to help decide whether step-up authentication is required. In addition, companies that facilitate digital payments will likely layer 3D-Secure with other advanced analytics technologies like artificial intelligence, to help analyze for fraud. Across retail, self-learning neural models will be used to automatically spot patterns much more swiftly. They will also enable closer rules setting and customization – essential for peak periods such as Black Friday – to minimize false declines and reduce the incidence of chargebacks.

• Merchants will have to tighten up their processes – whether mandated or not

It’s not possible for technology alone to fully eliminate retail fraud, especially for online stores. Like all hi-tech environments, people, and processes are often the source of inadvertent breaches. Retailers will have to continually update network security systems including firewalls and antivirus software, train staff and maintain audits to keep their defences high and information safe. Expect to see more security specialists employed full-time, even within smaller merchant organizations.

• Security will become a core differentiator for selecting a payment service provider

Businesses will be more proactive in their cybersecurity strategies when it comes to protecting the consumer. As senior execs and boards are increasingly held accountable, security is moving beyond a simple compliance tick-box towards a real corporate imperative supported by organisational wide procedural frameworks. Reflecting on this, security will become a critical differentiator ahead of reliability and costs for merchants seeking payment partners and providers.

While there are a plethora of security add-ons and antifraud software available, merchants shouldn’t forget the basics. This includes maintaining awareness of the latest fraud regulation and ensuring systems (and those of providers) are verified and compliant with all the latest standards; specifying PCI point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and tokenization for all payment platforms.

With GDPR necessitating clear policies for storing and handling ‘all’ customer data and the reporting of data breaches, retailers must make sure the right processes and training are in place to support these too.

If in doubt, payment partners such as FreedomPay, are often first to spot new security trends and can provide practical support and guidance to help keep businesses and their customers safe.

With so many touchpoints in the customer sales journey, it’s getting harder to lock-down retail payment chains against fraudsters (losses on UK-issued cards totalled £671.4 million in 2018). For many physical retailers, PCI compliance alone is no longer enough to ensure data security, protect customers and safeguard their business and reputation. That’s where point-to-point encryption (P2PE) comes in.

Why is P2PE important?

P2PE provides merchants with one of the most significant ways to minimize the risk of criminals stealing their cardholders’ data during in-store, face-to-face, card-present transactions.

What does it do?

P2PE protects credit card data from the point of sale (POS) as it travels through a merchant’s local network and across the internet before it reaches the payment processing system at the acquirer’s end.

How does it work?

It does this by encrypting data immediately upon entry from a payment terminal connected to the POS device to the third party secure environment where it is decrypted before authorization – from the starting point to the end point – hence its name. This encryption method utilizes complex encryption keys controlled by a P2PE solution provider, ensuring the merchant, or any third party, has no means of accessing the data traversing the network.

Why does this help?

Encrypting card data in this manner, means that even if a fraudster manages to capture it, they are unable to access the user’s ID or card data, without the relevant encryption/decryption keys. So, sensitive payment data can be safely sent through the entire payment chain without risk of compromise.

What about PCI Compliance?

P2PE is like a booster for PCI DSS – it goes further, is more exacting and safer than PCI DSS alone. And it makes achieving PCI compliance much simpler and less expensive too! That’s because it effectively takes the POS system and payment platform out of PCI scope, reducing time, effort and cost of compliance (but only if you use a PCI approved P2PE solution and provider, and follow the correct operational procedures).

Will it stop retail fraud?

No, it doesn’t prevent fraud using lost or stolen cards, but it does prevent criminals from accessing card data at the point of sale or while the cardholder data is in-transmission from the POS device to the payment processor.

Does it stop merchants using transaction data?

Not if you use it in tandem with a tokenization solution such as FreedomPay CardStorTM . This replaces the cardholder’s primary account number (PAN) with a ‘token’. Retailers can use tokens to identify the customer – for loyalty programs or automated form filling – and to supply transaction-based information to CRM systems and for business intelligence.

Is it hard or expensive to implement?

It can normally be integrated easily as part of your payment solution or platform using a PCI P2PE toolkit to provide the relevant encryption keys/pathways. If in doubt speak to your authorized payment provider. Any additional costs can often be quickly offset against time, effort and cost savings from PCI scope and audit reduction.

Still need to be convinced?

Here’s a quick summary of the benefits:

1. Simplifies PCI DSS compliance, reduces scope and cost
2. Extra data security without compromising customer experience
3. Minimizes risk of fraud, data breaches and subsequent fines, loss of custom and reputation
4. Data protection that keeps payment services simple
5. Used with tokenization, won’t affect loyalty programs or other commerce platforms
6. Software-based, easy to integrate – especially with FreedomPay.

Read more about payment security here.

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI-SSC) recently released an assessment methodology for merchants using Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solutions that have not yet been listed on the council’s website. The addition of the Non-Listed Encryption Solution Assessment (NESA) and the accompanying audit process provides merchants an expanded pool of encryption solutions beyond the current list of validated providers, allowing for a wider range of security offerings. Before deciding between a listed or a non-listed solution, however, it important to understand the assessment requirements of each as it relates to the solution provider as well as the merchant.

The process for becoming a listed solution with the PCI-SSC begins with an audit performed by an independent, third party, Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) who has been certified for P2PE assessments. During this assessment, the P2PE QSA will evaluate the solution against the relevant controls outlined in the following six P2PE Domains:

• Domain 1: Encryption Device and Application Management
• Domain 2: Application Security
• Domain 3: P2PE Solution Management
• Domain 4: Merchant Managed Solutions (not applicable to 3^rd party solution providers)
• Domain 5: Decryption Environment
• Domain 6: P2PE Cryptographic Key Operations and Device Management

For each applicable control, the P2PE QSA will collect evidence from the solution environment, and observe all required procedures to ensure compliance with the standard. The results of the assessment are then documented using the P2PE Report on Validation (P-ROV) template which is submitted directly to the PCI-SSC for final review. Once a representative of the PCI-SSC has approved and signed the submitted P-ROV, the solution will receive an official listing on the PCI website.

Since the PCI-P2PE standard is still relatively new, and the process of implementing and validating a new or existing solution can be quite lengthy, the NESA process gives solution providers the ability to provide a degree of security assurance to customers, along with limited scope reduction, while they work towards a validated listing. Much like the process for becoming a listed solution, non-listed solution providers need to engage a P2PE QSA to perform an assessment of their solution. The requirements for this type of assessment, however, have been relaxed in that a non-listed solution assessment can be completed without meeting the requirements for P2PE Domains 1, 2, or 3, but must meet all applicable requirements of Domains 5 and 6. Though the QSA will still complete a P-ROV for informational purposes, the end result of this assessment will also include a set of documents (referred to as the NESA documentation) which will include:

• A description of the solution
• A summary of the application’s full compliance, partial compliance, or non-compliance with Domains 1,2, and 3
• A statement of compliance confirming the applicable requirements of Domains 5 and 6 are met
• The assessing P2PE QSA’s recommendation as to how the solution impacts the merchants PCI scope

This set of documents serves the same purpose as a listed solution’s P-ROV or Attestation of Validation (AOV), without being submitted to the PCI Council or the Payment Brands, and will be used by PCI QSA’s when assessing the PCI compliance of a merchant utilizing the non-listed solution. As with standard PCI certification documentation, this NESA documentation should be distributed to clients on an annual basis, and whenever there are significant changes to the system.

At the merchant level, the difference between implementing a listed versus a non-listed solution becomes apparent during the annual PCI-DSS re-certification. A merchant using a listed solution in accordance with the solution providers P2PE Instruction Manual (PIM) and the pre-requisites of the SAQ P2PE automatically qualifies for a drastic reduction in PCI scope when assessing their environment, because the security and isolation of credit card data has been verified by a representative of the PCI-SSC. This same level of scope reduction is not guaranteed with a non-listed solution, and will depend on what is permitted by the merchant’s acquirer as well as the payment brands. In some cases, the acquirer or payment brands may require the aid of a PCI QSA to review the solution provider’s NESA documentation and the merchant’s implementation of the solution to determine what PCI-DSS requirements are covered, and to what degree. The results of this secondary solution assessment will determine which areas of the merchant environment are in scope of PCI, but will not qualify the merchant to utilize the SAQ P2PE.

Now that the door has been opened for the use of non-listed solutions that can still provide a measure of client scope reduction, it’s up to the merchants to determine what they are comfortable with in terms of controls evaluated by the solution provider, and the effort required on their end to properly implement the solution and maintain compliance. Listed or Non-Listed, the choice is yours, but merchants using a non-listed solution need to know they may be subject to additional assessments which could result in additional long-term costs.

FreedomPay’s PCI-validated P2PE solution is a listed solution, and delivers merchants all the PCI-scope reducing benefits listed above. To learn more about FreedomPay’s payment security solutions visit here.

This summer, FreedomPay joined merchants and payment solutions providers from around the world at RSPA RetailNOW 2016 in Grapevine, Texas, for high impact educational seminars, networking, and a few rounds of golf. Thousands of attendees gathered to learn and discuss the current state and future of the evolving point-of-sale technology ecosystem. Among the speakers was our very own Matt Donnelly, vice president of products and compliance, who gave a dynamic presentation on how FreedomPay’s advanced commerce platform provides omnichannel security solutions for smarter payments.

Swipe or chip? It’s more than just a popular meme, it’s the new complex payment landscape as retailers integrate multiple ways for consumers to make purchases, which also includes a tap option for mobile wallets. EMV (Euro Mastercard Visa) payments that utilize chip and PIN features for enhanced fraud prevention benefit merchants who’ve upgraded to the European standard, as they won’t be held liable for fraudulent charges. Although more secure than traditional swipe credit cards, EMV leaves card holder information exposed during transactions, fails to protect data during online or mobile purchases, and is PCI (Payment Card Industry) non-compliant.

FreedomPay specializes in providing merchants with secure transaction solutions with PCI validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) services. Our technology encrypts and protects data from point of interaction through transport and storage. To accomplish this, our system uses a process known as card data encryption during a transaction, transferring a string of alphanumeric code instead of the actual credit card information. FreedomPay’s secure platform unencrypts the card data and passes it to the card processors for approval from the bank. After approval or decline, FreedomPay then transmits a secure token back to the merchant for ongoing storage. Even in the event of a security breach, there would be nothing for a hacker to gain because no credit card data was ever actually transferred or stored, reducing merchant and consumer exposure.

Fast food restaurants, convenience stores, stadium concessions, and dining services are just some of the operations that can realize faster and more secured payments with PCI validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solutions. Online commerce and tablet terminals (favored by food trucks, outdoor events, pop-up retailers) also make excellent use cases. At FreedomPay, we deliver value to merchants and customers alike by making payments seamless, intuitive, simpler – in a word, smarter.

Our presentation at RSPA RetailNOW 2016 was a rousing success, and we look forward to attending next year in Las Vegas as we remain at the forefront of next-generation technology and commerce.

October of 2015 marked a big month for FreedomPay customers – it represented the deadline for merchants to transition more than one billion payment cards to the EMV standard, and upwards of 12 million credit card terminals at merchant locations.  FreedomPay’s advanced commerce platform made the transition easy, and merchants are lauding the service expertise FreedomPay provided along the way.

 “Ensuring the security of consumer payment data is a top priority for merchants across all industries,” said Chris Kronenthal, Chief Technology Officer of FreedomPay. “Working with leading organizations in lodging, gaming, retail, foodservice, healthcare and higher education to implement PCI best practices including EMV, tokenization and Validated P2PE, FreedomPay is helping merchants secure their payment environment, prevent EMV liability exposure and reduce scope for PCI compliance.”

While FreedomPay’s innovative technology is the key to making transactions easier and more secure for customers, providing service that goes the extra mile is what sets us apart. This emphasis on service is why we offer on-site support for our stored-value program rollouts.  Clients of all sizes benefit from hands-on training and support for product launches.  For instance, we spend one day a week at the headquarters of one of our largest foodservice clients to ensure that we are meeting their needs as a partner.

We supply day-to-day account management to merchants to ensure their satisfaction. Our ten-person management team delivers expertise and experience in the payment industry, assisting our partners to solve for multifaceted challenges on demand.

Here at FreedomPay, we take pride in the fact that all members of the product support department are passionate about solving problems and finding technical solutions that truly address the needs of our customers.

We understand that our merchants aim to provide quality customer service, which is why we provide the same in return – especially during industry shifts like the transition to EMV.

When you partner with FreedomPay, you can rest assured that our team will provide exceptional, ongoing support to ensure that the products and services you use are deployed to your full satisfaction and are 100% operational.

Need help with anything? Our support team is available to current customers, partners, and future prospects. Visit FreedomPay online to learn more about our phenomenal customer service!