Payments Tech Provider Pushes For Security Standards

Mercury Payments Systems has started a new initiative that looks to educate payment partners and other entities on how to deal with data breaches and other security issues.

As reported by the Credit Union Times on Thursday (Aug. 6), the company, which is owned by Vantiv, said it is advocating for new security standards and protocols within the payments space. The program, named Security Pays, will feature Mercury pointing developers to point-of-sale options to integrate security software with the company’s eponymous payments platform. The program also has an incentive component aimed at developers and dealers to focus on stronger security practices.

Mercury will also leverage the program to offer training aimed at satisfying Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard version 3.1 requirements. Under Security Pays, Certified Qualified Integrators and Resellers are entitled to a three-year renewable credential.

The Security Pays initiative will run through the end of this year.

“Securing payment data is more important than ever for businesses,” Matt Taylor, president of integrated payments and emerging channels for Vantiv, the Mercury parent company, said in a Thursday statement.

“Research shows that 80 percent of security attacks happen at small businesses, and 60 percent of the small businesses that are hit by a data breach go out of business within six months of the breach,” the executive continued.

“We want to help our payments partners — and the businesses they serve — to take steps to be more secure. When it comes to security, it’s crucial to be proactive.”

Separately, remarks from PCI Security Standards Council GM Stephen W. Orfei noted that “in the more than 400 investigations conducted by the U.S. Secret Service last year, the service found improper payment platform set-up and system maintenance to be a common point of attack and compromise. We also see this across the global marketplace. As U.S. businesses migrate to EMV and update their POS environments, they need to be confident the technology is set up correctly to protect their customer base.”

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