Business merchants have more security available for processing credit cards than ever before. It is called TransArmor, and it is currently available through PaymentMax.
Until now, one of the greatest liabilities of accepting credit cards has been the merchant’s obligation to keep the card data safe. To meet PCI compliance, the card data has to be encrypted. With TransArmor, it still is, but there is another level of protection added beyond encryption. It is called tokenization.
Tokenization relieves a merchant from some of the liability of keeping customer data secure. As usual, a customer’s data is encrypted immediately at the point of sale. The data is then transmitted to and decrypted by First Data so that it can be authorized by the bank. When the bank’s approval is returned to First Data, it is assigned a randomly generated token number. It is this token number that is returned to the merchant with the authorization. That number will be permanent for that customer’s business with that merchant, but it will be meaningless to any other business or identity thief. The token number can now be used in place of the card-holder data.
PaymentMax now offers this heightened security option to its customers. As a merchant, you will be able to use the token number for your own analytics and marketing, but without the added burden of having the primary card data stored in your records where it could be misused. This new layer of protection is particularly good news for small businesses and start-ups that operate on slim margins. When you protect your customers’ payment card data, you protect yourself as well.
One of the best things about using TransArmor via your PaymentMax account is that it requires very little extra effort on your part. It will add a lot of extra security without slowing down your regular business operations. Using a token number does not impede other operations for the account, such as returns, recurring billing, or preferred customer promotions. In fact, using TransArmor lets you conduct business as usual, only more safely. TranArmor works on the following credit card terminals: First Data™ FD50, FD100, FD100 Wi-Fi, FD100TI, FD200, FD200 Wi-Fi, FD300, FD300 Wi-Fi and the VeriFone® Omni® VX570 terminals.
