Unfortunately, not everyone in the payment ecosystem is prepared for the growing threat of cyber-criminals. With the holidays fast approaching, we need to be mindful of any grinches that may be lurking.
One only needs to look at the recent large-scale retailer breaches which compromised millions of consumers’ sensitive information for proof that the criminals are on the prowl and the cyber defense status quo isn’t good enough. While there has been a rise in the number and sophistication of data breaches, no federal standard for protecting consumer data at retailers and other non-financial firms currently exists.
