8 Ways to Ensure PCI Compliance On Your Restaurant
What's PCI Compliance?
PCI compliance is a set of criteria for many merchants who process credit or debit card transactions, however large or small they could be. The compliance must be shown across a business' entire IT infrastructure -- essentially, any device that can store, transmit, or monitor customer card data.
The six Main prerequisites for PCI compliance are:
- Construct and maintain a secure network connection and infrastructure
- Shield customer cardholder data
- Maintain a vulnerability management program
- Implement strong access control measures
- Regularly monitor and test networks
- Maintain an information security policy
By making sure PCI compliance you protect your clients' personal card information from potential breaches and downtime, while also reassuring them that your restaurant is a trusted establishment.
PCI compliance also protects you, the owner, from stiff penalties and astronomical penalties, which may include:
- Analysis of your point-of-sale (POS) system
- Non-compliance penalties with VISA and MasterCard
- Reimbursement for purchases made using stolen cards
- Replacement of stolen credit cards
- Higher fees from banks and creditors
That is why you as a business owner must take steps to protect your guests from possible identity theft and yourself from a possible lawsuit or loss of revenue. These measures do not just include having proven security policies to your internal company, but also the manual elimination of credit card info from the POS system and connected terminals. This includes:
- Complete cardholder account number
- Cardholder name
- Expiration date
- Magnetic stripe data
- EMV chip info
- PIN numbers (where appropriate)
- All authentication data
Most cloud-based POS systems will handle the deletion for you, while this will almost certainly need to be done manually (and frequently ) if you're using a legacy system.
8 Ways to Make sure PCI Compliance On Your Restaurant
Here are some things you can do in order to begin testing and implementing PCI compliance on your restaurant. It's not a comprehensive list, so make certain to reach out to your POS provider, payments processing firm, Wifi provider, or bank to ensure you are meeting the criteria for full PCI compliance.
1. Use a Firewall
By establishing an electronic barrier between payment information and a public online network, you can help ensure critical cardholder data will not become exposed to other companies, guests, or even random strangers. The incidence of WiFi networks apparently everywhere means information can easily be obtained if you are not careful. A firewall keeps your restaurant PCI compliant by helping to protect this information from leaving your system.
2. Delete Cardholder Data
You don't have to keep credit cards on file, and also a fantastic POS system will deal with the deletions for you. But if, for some reason, you get a definitive, justifiable business reason for maintaining particular cardholder data, be sure it is stored separate from your main POS network and is encrypted to guarantee PCI compliance.
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3. Change Your Passwords Frequently
When you get set up with a new POS or other credit card processing system, the vendor will often set you up with a generic password such as"1234" or something else straightforward and easy to remember. Change these inventory passwords instantly after your system is installed, then establish a normal cadence of password changes to make sure that only qualified staff members may access cardholder data or any other company details.
4. Update Your Restaurant POS Software ASAP
While modern POS systems stay fully updated and connected by their cloud-based temperament, some legacy applications has to be updated manually. If that is true for your restaurant, make certain to establish the opportunity to routinely check, download, install and troubleshoot upgrades before support, so there are no surprises when the doors open to your customers, and you must be PCI compliant.
5. Maintain Cardholder Information Available to Select Staff Only
Your waitstaff may handle cardholder information, but there is no reason they need to really see the information. Swipe or add the card, process the payment, return the card this is all of the exposure they will need. If any members of your restaurant, for example direction, have access to cardholder information, make sure they just see it outside the view of other employees.
In actuality, it may even be best to limit who manages card transactions entirely, to further your case for full PCI compliance. On that note...
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6. Maintain Card Transactions From Public View
This is just another"no-brainer" that many restaurants don't perform. Card processing ought to be maintained, whenever possible, from view of guests or the general public. Creating a little nook or alcove on your institution, away from prying eyes, will go a long way toward ensuring that the card details remain between the client and the POS system.
An even better choice is to invest in a system that takes tableside payments. In this manner, the guest is in full view of the credit card at all times, lowering the risk for both planes and your restaurant's PCI compliance.
7. Reduce the Amount of Card-Not-Present Transactions
If you have ever wondered why the POS provider charges you more for card-not-present transactions, it is because the risk of fraud is greater. While you can not remove card-not-present transactions completely, like in the case of online ordering, be sure that keying in a credit card number is a last-resort alternative when swiping or dipping a card is possible.
8. Ensure That Your System is Also EMV Compliant
While the US still has some catching up to do, EMV subscribers -- aka"the processor" -- are now the worldwide standard for credit card security. By ensuring that your POS and payments processing complies with EMV standards, you are going to guard your guests' information and protect yourself from chargebacks.
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What Happens if You Do Not Adhere to Restaurant PCI Compliance Regulations?
Based on the seriousness and magnitude of the breach, breaking PCI compliance could mean charge card companies could impart fines upwards of $100,000. But looking beyond the financial ramifications, a restaurant owner's biggest concern when choosing to ignore PCI compliance is the loss of trust.
- Lost trust from clients, who will choose different restaurants to regular
- Lost trust from lenders, who will stop your company from accepting these cards
- Missing trust from regulators, who'll inflict even stronger penalties for additional non-compliance.
If you are in the foodservice business, these 3 things sound like a recipe for failure -- one which will cause the inevitable closure of your company if it's not rectified. So, regardless of the further steps required to keep your restaurant PCI compliant, these additional measures pale compared to the work required to repair a violation.
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