From Skimmers to Data Theft, the Prepaid Press noted securing POS and PED devices to the counter to thwart criminals. The February 2011 article on the Having the Right Security Plan shared why physical security is so important.
One storey was the unauthorized, albeit fake, repair technicians swapping out a companies PED for ones with skimmers. The “technicians” returned later to retrieve their PEDs with stored mag stripe data along with pin numbers, returning the original PEDs.
About eight years ago CardWare provided a solution for the theft of a dozen terminals. Thieves stole terminals fro dozen different locations of a particular franchisee of national fast food chain. They left behind cash registers with money in them, taking only the terminals.
The thieves put credits thru the terminals, loading gift cards that they distributed across the world. After about $180,000 in losses by the franchisee, the processor shut down the terminal ID and MIDs. Not to be out done, the criminals reprogrammed the terminals with new TIDs and MIDs in the BIN of the franchisee. So another$120,000 later the processor asked CardWare to swap out 90 terminals with an entirely new BIN for the franchisee.
The Prepaid Press article contains excellent advice for the physical security of the POS hardware. I strongly advise that you read it on line.
CardWare International working with Engineered Network Services, www.ens-co.com provides a complete range of lock down mechanisms designed for specific POS devices.
Physical security is but one a requirement of PCI. You’ve locked down your system and its data. Now lock down your hardware.
Call 800-284-1313 and ask for Brad or Biff to explore increased security for your POS hardware.
