After a year of high profile breaches, some might assume that merchants are on high alert about payment card security. And while a majority say that the spate of compromises has caused them to think seriously about the issue, about 30 percent say the media attention has had little effect on their approach to data protection. 

On this blog, we just discussed the findings of "Data Security in the Evolving Payments Ecosystem," a report by Experian and the Ponemon Institute. One of the study's areas of focus was on the response from merchants in relation to breaches at companies like Target, Home Depot and Michaels.

"Sixty-nine percent said highly publicized data breaches did increase their awareness about securing their payment processes," summarizes Roy Urrico of Payment Union Times. "In response to these well-publicized breaches, most respondents (56%) said one of the first steps their organization took was risk assessment of personal information in their systems, followed by investments in enabling technologies (53%) and allocating more money for security (45%)."

Although a significant number of merchants have been proactive about reviewing their payment security strategies, 69 percent is far from 100 percent. This leaves millions of merchants vulnerable to preventable lapses in security practices they may be overlooking. For these parties, the cost and damage sustained in a breach can be debilitating. We reported that this month, Target was ordered to pay as much as $19 million to cover losses from its major breach, which is just one of the expenses resulting from the compromise. 

Contact Vantage today to learn more about our services that help merchants keep their data safe. With an experienced third-party service provider, businesses can deploy and monitor the most secure payment technology.