U.S. Small Businesses Taking Action to Protect Customers' Financial Data, But Not Top Worry27 June 2006
Data security concerns are penetrating small businesses with more than 64 percent taking action within the last 12 months to better protect customer financial information, according to a new survey from Visa USA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce(1). Although businesses are taking action, the issue is far from top of mind for business owners with 63 percent saying they rarely if at all worry about securing customer data.
To help small businesses better understand how to protect their customers' sensitive card data and reduce fraud, Visa USA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will begin a nationwide town hall tour today in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The 12-city tour titled, "Securing Our Businesses, Protecting Our Customers," marks the second year that Visa and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have teamed with local Chambers of Commerce to educate small businesses about new fraud threats and how to protect themselves. Small businesses can register to attend the sessions for free at http://www.uschamber.com/events/visatour.
"Merchants are increasingly locking down customer data, but there is more work to be done," said Rosetta Jones, Vice President, Visa USA. "The payments industry and merchants share common customers, a common payments system and common enemies on the fraud front. It's vital that we work together to protect cardholders and this educational tour is one way we are doing that."
Most small businesses gave themselves strong grades on how well they are protecting customer data, with two-thirds (67%) giving themselves an 'A,' some 27 percent rating themselves a 'B' and 5 percent giving themselves a 'C' or below. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants that grade to be higher.
"Making the grade on data security, means 100 percent of businesses are earning an 'A,'" said Sean Heather, Executive Director, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We're committed to helping businesses of all sizes strengthen their overall data security by delivering valuable resources and expert knowledge to the business owners and managers."
Additional survey results include:
* Small retailers spend more resources preventing the theft of products
and cash from their store (34%) than securing customer data (20%).
* Nearly two-thirds (64%) have made improvements to how their business
protects customers' personal information, including credit and debit
card data, over the past 12 months, and nearly three-in-ten (29%) have
done so in the last 3 months.
* Only 17 percent said they knew what magnetic stripe data was.
* Some 53 percent of retailers think their customers rarely, if at all,
worry about their personal information.
Between now and September 2006, Visa and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will meet with small merchants in the following cities:
* Portsmouth, New Hampshire June 26
* Charleston, West Virginia July 17
* Birmingham, Alabama August 1
* Gainesville, Florida August 4
* Springfield, Illinois August 7
* St. Paul, Minnesota August 10
* Murrieta, California August 16
* Anaheim, California August 17
* Annapolis, Maryland August 22
* Newton, Massachusetts August 23
* San Antonio, Texas August 30
* Cincinnati, Ohio September 15
A wealth of resources designed to help businesses protect sensitive customer data are available online at http://www.uschamber.com/sb/security, http://www.visa.com/cisp and http://www.visa.com/merchant.
About the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.
About Visa
Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders in the payment system - members, cardholders and merchants. Through its 13,432 member financial institutions, more than 510 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders in the United States. Last year, U.S.-based financial institutions relied on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $1.6 trillion in transactions with unparalleled reliability.
Worldwide, cardholders in more than 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.
Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, anyway.
(1) Surveyed 600 small merchants in twelve target areas from June 14-June 22, 2006.
Source: prnewswire
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