New research from Kaspersky Lab shows that the average cost to small-to-medium sizes businesses in the United States and Canada has reached record highs.

The company found that data breaches now exceed $140,000 for SMBs (up 36% from 2017). Most of the cost comes from the need to quickly upgrade infrastructure and software, but there are hefty fines if the data that was compromised included credit card data. For enterprise companies, the costs are even greater, with the average data breach cost being $1.75 million on average.

Credit Card Processing PCI Compliance:  What can you do to protect cardholder data and meet security standards?

There is no easier way to become PCI Compliant than working with the experts at APS Payments.  Back in the old days, criminals would rob banks and trains full of cold hard cash.  These days, criminals try to steal credit and payment card data from exposed networks among other modern-day tactics that leave companies and card holders vulnerable.  They are constantly searching for victims.  Thankfully, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was developed in accordance to credit card processing PCI Compliance standards with several layers of protection against theft. Here are 12 steps you can take to protect your cardholder data and facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures on a global scale.

Hidden PCI Compliance Fees:  Is your company at risk?

Have you noticed any PCI compliance fees on your merchant statements? Unexpected and hidden fees are a risk for any business processing credit cards and there are ways to eliminate or reduce them with a little extra diligence. If you’ve been processing credit cards for the last few months or years, the topic PCI compliance has probably surfaced. Credit card processing statements are already confusing and many merchants aren’t sure how to pass the grade with PCI compliance.

Our team works diligently to help keep our merchants’ data safe. For merchant processors, this means we need to ensure all our customers are following the PCI-DSS Regulations.

PCI compliance security standards are technical and operational requirements set by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) to protect cardholder data. The standards apply to all entities that store, process or transmit cardholder data – with guidance for software developers and manufacturers of applications and devices used in those transactions. The Council is responsible for managing the security standards, while compliance with the PCI set of standards is enforced by the founding members of the Council, American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc.

PC Charge has now been unsupported for over 2 years, and yet certain companies have still been using PC Charge to process cards through their accounting software. On April 6th, 2015, Verifone announced they will no longer support their credit card application PC Charge. Many companies have continued to use this software, since they have heavily customized their ERP system. Newer versions of ERPs and payment integrations have better security features and protocols (Hint: APS!) that are PCI Compliant.

PC Charge, a server-based credit card processing middleware, is installed on a business’ local server to process credit card and store information on-site. Even though PC Charge has stopped working for most merchants, several companies have found a way to piece their systems together to keep it running. This, however, will likely come to an end in 2018. PCI 

Credit card processing transactions are processed in one of two ways, batch or real time.  The method selected is determined by the company accepting payments and the environment where credit card transactions are processed.

Multicurrency billing is one of the strongest differentiating factors between SAP Business One and other leading mid-market ERP systems.  To maintain this strong differentiating feature, SAP Business One credit card processing functionality MUST enable users to accept accounts receivable payments in multiple currencies.

International companies who need the ability to process payments in multiple currencies will be able to do so using American Payment Solutions credit card processing SAP B1 integration. APS also allows this feature through a single database, using a single gateway, which simplifies this process regardless of your native currency.

Why it's important to use Acumatica level 3 processing when accepting credit card payments

It is incredibly easy these days to set-up a new business to accept electronic payments.  Companies can subscribe to an online entry level accounting package like QuickBooks or Sage 50 and be up and running collecting payments the same day.

4 PCI Compliance Levels

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to protect customer credit card data by maintaining a secure credit card processing environment.  Businesses that are not PCI compliant may be subject to fines, sanctions, and loss of privileges from the clearinghouse that processes credit card payments.  Businesses that fail to protect customer data can also be subject to lawsuits and governmental prosecution.