Hardly a day goes by without some news about the Target data breach, which is now estimated to have affected over 100 million customers. Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores have also just announced potential large scale breaches at their stores.
Protection of customer data is regulated on a number of different levels depending upon the type of transaction. Different state and federal laws and regulations come into play depending upon the type of transaction and where it occurred. Consumers may be surprised to learn that credit card transactions are for the most part privately regulated by the card brand industry (referred to as PCI-DSS standards). The technical standards required for point of sale transactions in the United States clearly need to be strengthened and are not nearly as robust as standards used by many European countries (the EMI standards.)
When a credit card breach is suspected, many of the card brands will promptly cancel credit cards and issue new cards to customers to limit liability. In some instances the card brands will shut down a merchant’s ability to process cards. The good news for consumers using credit cards is that most card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and others) have a policy of no liability (some have a $50.00 limit for fraudulent transactions.) The news is not as good for debit card transactions where accounts can be hacked into and completely drained in a matter of moments.
Until better standards are in place, consumers should take the following steps to protect their financial security:
- Cancel debit cards or keep only minimal balances in these accounts.
- Obtain free annual credit reports and immediately report and any false or suspicious activity.
- Frequently change passwords using complex passwords (combination of letters, symbols and numbers that do not personally relate to you or that could be easily guessed) Use a unique password for each account. In that way, not all accounts will be affected if one account is hacked. Weak passwords are one of the easiest ways to be attacked on-line. Software bots running programs at mind blogging speed on internet 24/7 all too often gain entry due to weak or easy to guess passwords.
- Consider adding identify theft protection to your insurance policies.
Keep up to date with antivirus software applications on all devises. It’s critical to keep AV software up to date and some offer better protections than others. - Never open an email that looks suspicious. Phishing scams with official sounding names, including details. zip; UPS_document.zip; DCIM.zip; Report.zip; Scan.zip and many others, including exe.files that prompt you to enter passwords or click links to infected website should never be opened and will come to no good.
Most credit card companies do a good job of cancelling cards and limiting liability for fraudulent credit card transactions. Debit cards do not enjoy the same protections. Debit card transactions won’t usually be reimbursed unless the merchant decides to cover the loss or is able to recover the funds from the hacker. Since many of the data breaches today result from hacks outside the United States, it’s not likely you’ll get reimbursed for fraudulent debit card activity. By keeping antivirus software up to date and using strong passwords on all your accounts, you can have the peace of mind that you haven’t made it easy for hackers to gain access. The encryption and other standards in place today won’t likely change for some time. In the meantime, you can take these steps to protect your financial security.
Last Updated (Wednesday, 29 January 2014 07:33)