Throughout the day, your business likely processes card-not-present (CNP) transactions. These are transactions that occur without a physical card or cardholder being present to make the purchase. If you have ever accepted payments over the phone or set up an online store for your business, your customers are using card-not-present payments.

These remote payments come with security risks, and you could put your customers and business at risk if you aren’t careful. Here’s how you can increase the security of your card-not-present transactions.

1. Encrypt any data sent and received by your business.

One of the easiest ways to protect your CNP transactions is to ensure that they are protected by the very latest in certified, point-to-point encryption and tokenization which provides extra levels of protection against would-be cybercriminals. 

2. Protect your stored data.

Companies often create customer profiles as part of their marketing strategies. This means they save customer data and payment information after the purchase. While this increases the chances of repeat purchases and speeds up the conversion process, saved information could also represent a liability to your business.

Make sure to protect all your data against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, and other cyber threats. The FBI offers multiple tips to keep your data safe.

3. Restrict data sharing within your organization.

Even if your business falls victim to a phishing attack or other cyber threat, you can limit the damage through information management. This is a practice where only a select few people can access sensitive information — like customer accounts. That way, even if one person gets hacked, the cybercriminal won’t necessarily gain access to sensitive information.

Follow the guidelines created by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) to limit information sharing.

4. Train your staff on CNP transaction security.

Human error is responsible for countless security breaches and data leaks each year. Train your retail staff on encryption and data storage best practices. Specify when they can accept CNP transactions and when it’s not safe to process a payment. Review these policies regularly. This ensures your team won’t put your business at risk by failing to follow security best practices.

The best way to ensure your CNP transactions are safe is to work with a payment processor that you trust. At Humboldt Merchant Services, we strive to provide peace of mind to all of our merchants. Learn more about our merchant services account options and how we can keep your CNP transactions safe.