Securing Devices For Better Mobile Credit Card Processing

23 May 2016
 Categories: Finance & Money, Blog

Share

Mobile credit card processing makes it easy to complete merchant transactions on the go. However, it can also be a challenge to secure properly. If you want to protect your business and customers, you should take some extra steps to ensure the protection of their data.

Lock All Merchant Devices

All devices that have merchant software installed and are used for credit card processing should be locked. Most devices today can lock with a PIN, password, or fingerprint scan. Devices should be set to lock whenever they are idle and they should wipe themselves if someone attempts to open them multiple times. Otherwise your device could be stolen and information from the device could potentially be breached.

Only Use Business Devices for Transactions

It can be tempting to allow employees to use their personal devices for mobile credit card processing, especially if they are often on the go. Small business owners should invest in either affordable tablets or smartphone devices if they want their employees to complete transactions. Otherwise a personal device could become compromised -- or an employee could leave the company with sensitive information. 

Use Granular Security Controls

When controlling your merchant account, you are generally allowed to give different permissions to different users. You can control which users can complete which types of transactions and their transaction limits. Use granular security controls to give employees access to only the features that they strictly need. Even if you trust your employees, this will reduce the chances that a mistake could be made or that someone could cause issues with a stolen device.

Always Use Secured Internet Connections

Though your mobile credit card processor should be using encryption, it's still important for your employees to only use secured Internet connections on their device. Otherwise their device itself could be breached, which could ultimately lead to security problems. You can tell whether your Internet connection is secured by looking at your WiFi signal. If it has a closed lock beside its name, it is secured; if it has an open lock beside its name, it's open. 

Even with the potential security concerns, mobile credit card processing is one of the fastest and most convenient methods of recording client transactions. As long as you and your employees are both diligent and safe, you should be able to avoid any major issues. Make sure that you review your accounts carefully at the end of every financial period -- and immediately notify your merchant service of any suspicious activity -- and you and your customers should be safe.

For mobile credit card processing, contact a company such as Midwest Payment Processing.