With the proliferation of data breaches hitting merchants hard and stressing a need for better security at the point of sale, Intel and NCR have devised a new solution to protect retailers and consumers.
Intel is working with POS solutions provider NCR to advance an industry standard end-to-end protection for point of sale systems at retailers in 2015.
Intel’s Data Protection Technology for Transactions will be a simple software upgrade for all POS solutions equipped with select Intel processors. These include second, third, and next generation Intel Core and select Atom processors.
This means that merchants and retailers with Intel hardware will be able to enable encryption to protect consumers’ payment details and create another layer of security on top of the upcoming EMV mandate coming October of next year.
Intel Data Protection Technology for Transactions will be compatible with mag-stripe, EMV, and NFC readers including the upcoming Apple Pay.
Michelle Tinsley, Director of Security and Mobile Payments at Intel, says, “essentially what this new system would do is set up a two-tunnel system.”
“One tunnel would communicate with the managed service provider and they can send through policies to manage the secured white-list for which servers and peripherals can communicate with the point of sale. Then the point of sale will set up a secure channel with that peripheral and then encrypt and accept whatever data is coming in.”
The number and diversity of POS system will only continue to increase. Bringing point-to-point encryption through a software upgrade to these systems makes the opportunity to better secure consumer data a necessity to retailers and merchants.
Tinsley says that by working with NCR, Intel’s new Data Protection Technology could become “a de-facto” standard. This applies not only to payments, but the Internet of Things slowly coming into the forefront.
Intelligent devices may be beaming customer details back and forth as predicted in the near future for payment transactions, transmission of sensitive information contained in passports and licenses, along with loyalty and rewards enablement.
Intel’s solution may be the answer in keeping all of this interconnectivity a safe and secure space for a new constantly connected world.
