Malware, counterfeit card fraud and card-not-present fraud are at the top of the list of threats to merchants today, according to a new report from the research firm Aite Group this month. The research report highlighted merchants as the most vulnerable position in the card data security ecosystem.
The report, “Card Data Security: In Search of a Technology Solution,” talked to heads of risk management for North American issuing banks or payment processors to determine what they saw as the biggest card security problems, the responsibilities of stakeholders and possible security solutions that could minimize the risk.
Who is most at risk? The report says 62% of survey respondents said the merchants, followed by acquirers, with 43% of the respondents naming this group as vulnerable or very vulnerable to security breaches. ISOs may have the least to worry about, with only 30% of respondents calling them vulnerable or very vulnerable to security breaches.
Aite’s Nick Holland points out that the promising solution of shifting the industry from magnetic stripe cards to smart cards, also called EMV architecture, may never happen. Holland warns that “with the deeply entrenched magnetic stripe infrastructure in the United States, and the cost and effort involved in transitioning stakeholders to chip and PIN infrastructure,” may preclude a move to more secure EMV architectures.
More info on the report is here.
Aite is also currently offering a survey for C-level technology and operations executives at North American banks to participate in to share their views on IT strategy trends in the banking industry. Click here to participate.