CSC Payments Experts Discuss Data Security, Theft Protection

The growing vulnerability of the payments industry has been big news this year. The media have reported several major U.S. bank security breaches that put private customer data at risk. The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, for example, noted that a security breach at a card processor on June 20 exposed 40 million Mastercard accounts to possible fraud. USA Today went on to report that major financial institutions, including Bank of America and CitiFinancial, lost backup tapes and jeopardised as many as 5.1 million accounts.

Lawmakers in Congress, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, are proposing new legislation (SB.115 and SB.751) to increase the reporting obligations when data is lost and impose heavy fines on institutions that fail their reporting obligations.

In a hearing on cyber attacks, Sen. Patrick Leahy stated, “Encryption helps prevent cyber crime. That is why, for years, I have advocated and sponsored legislation to encourage the widespread use of strong encryption.”

CSC is a leader in encryption technology and anti-fraud solutions. CSC’s banking division has years of experience in improving payment technology.

“Customer perception is tremendously important when it comes to protecting sensitive information,” said Jerry Blodgett, manager of CSC’s Integrated Payments group. “The publicity surrounding identity theft and general fraud schemes makes data protection a front-and-center issue in the minds of consumers and businesses alike. This growing awareness is the impetus for all of the pending legislation surrounding customer data.

“By being proactive on this issue, CSC is helping our clients find ways to demonstrate that they are a trusted venue to conduct business in a safe and reliable fashion.”

Clients of CSC’s CheckVision learn how encryption helps protect companies and their customers from unauthorised data access to physical media such as CD-ROM, DVD or magnetic tapes.

CheckVision’s short-term archive and integrated delivery components store electronic bank statements, account reconciliation reports and check images for 45 days. This allows banks to provide this information to customers by CD-ROM or the Internet.

While Internet delivery is routinely encrypted, the physical delivery of data via public carriers creates the greater concern. By providing unique customer encryption keys, this physical data transfer becomes as safe and secure as any Web-based transactions