Do Not Play Around With Data Loss

It's more than you think-and you are more at risk than you know.

perplexity. Denial. Plain old wishful thinking. That's what we hear when we talk to people about the real cost of info breach. Whether you are an ISO, an acquirer, or a merchant, perhaps you have even said ( or at least thought ) some of these things yourself :

*'There are not truly that many data breaches-the media just hypes the few that happen.' *'As long as we are only suspected of a breach, it's really no big deal.' *'Even if there is a break, we'll figure it out pretty quickly . How costly could it be?' ( and, if you're not a merchant, maybe you have even thought ,'Well, at least we can't have to pay for it.' )

Once a merchant is even suspected of a breach, a team of PCI-DSS certificated forensics security examiners swoops in to review and check its business practices. This exam can take anywhere from a couple of days to one or two weeks, depending on the intricacy of the systems involved. A security policy review-your security policies will be completely reviewed and evaluated. An internal network vulnerability assessment-every computer/server/network service will be tested for thousands of security weaknesses.

Then, the examiners will by hand attempt to penetrate the perimeter.

What takes place when the examiners find a break has essentially occurred? Well, that's's when the expenses actually start to add up. $3 to $10 per card for replacement costs $5,000 to $50,000 ( or more ) in compliance fines Additional fines based on the particular fraudulent use of the cards, that may alter depending on the amount of cards exposed. The bottom line? The price of an info breach for a Level 4 merchant averages $36,000 and can be as high as $50,000 ( or more ). Put simply, more than needed to cripple-or even destroy-a growing businesses.

If you do not have enough money in your merchant account, the acquirer will recover funds from your future transactions ( that may unfortunately be less than you hoped, since your reputation will probably have taken a major hit as a result of the breach ). If you close your account or declare bankruptcy, you'll be put on a'match list' and be unable to accept visa cards.

You are in charge of all costs and fines if the merchant can't pay them, whether or not the merchant no longer has a contract with you. So, we're back to where we started : what is the real price of info breach? The short answer is more than you suspect, rising all of the time, and rather more likely to hit you than you'd like to believe. And as uncomfortable as that reality is, this is one case where what you don't know can most definitely hurt you. Profran Consultants, Inc. developed Skadoit, LLC as a franchise. To get info CLICK HERE.