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Mobile Payment Security: PCI Compliance and You, the Merchant

The mobile app world is reaching beyond time-wasters at work and fitness tracking apps for the healthy-minded individual. We at eMerchantBroker.com recognize the power of apps is now entering the world of commercial retail as consumers now have apps that enable them to make credit payments using their iPhones, tablets, and Androids. As a merchant, it’s vital to offer as many forms of convenient payment to your customers as possible. However, all of the new apps and mobile devices require equally developed security procedures to ensure your offered payment methods are PCI compliant.

Why Is It Important To Secure Mobile Payments?

The current generation of mobile devices has severely limited security regarding payment acceptance. The reality is the responsibility to ensure secure payment belongs to multiple parties in the mobile app world. The customer, the merchant, and the payment servers must all be equally secure and encrypted in order to guarantee credit card safety and customer confidence. The team at eMerchantBroker.com cannot emphasize enough the importance of securing mobile payment devices and ensuring they are PCI compliant is vital to your business if you want to offer your customers mobile payment methods.

Point of Interaction (POI) Devices

Mobile devices have no guarantee of having been constructed with the paramount emphasis being placed on security. If you as a merchant want to use a mobile payment method device for POI you need to be absolutely sure it has secure input for storing cardholder data. This means it will need to have encryption in order to secure cardholder information and data. Your POI device must be approved and PCI compliant as a PIN entry device or as an approved secure card reader for accepting credit card payment processing from mobile devices.

How to Acquire a PCI-compliant POI Device

eMerchantBroker.com advises small business owners to expand their payment capabilities to include mobile payment methods to partner with a provider of a PCI-validated device. The easiest way to ensure your compliance is to utilize a POI device that is confirmed to be compliant beforehand. If a device is known to use the appropriate PCI SSC security methods your card readings and data input will be secured and ready to be processed with the utmost confidence for the consumer.

Safeguarding your customers’ cardholder information may seem mundane and ordinary to a business owner but if your business is struck by a security breach you will be out of business and facing financial complications of dire consequences. eMerchantBroker.com advocates responsible and secure businesses to make sure all of their POI devices are PCI SSC compliant to ensure a business that operates smoothly and without security concerns.

 

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