The Retail Industry Highlights Efforts To Protect Consumers, Thwart Cyber Attacks
Arlington, VA, 2015-4-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — Over the past year the retail industry has led efforts to enhance cyber security and data security, starting with a massive investment in our stores.
Retailers Are Investing $8.65 Billion To Upgrade Payment Terminals. New technology about to be deployed by credit card companies will require U.S. consumers to carry a new kind of card and retailers across the nation to upgrade payment terminals. (“Costly Shift To New Credit Cards Won’t Fix Security Issues,” Reuters, 3/3/15)
Retailers are building cross-industry alliances to work toward solutions that thwart cyber threats.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Joins With Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) In An Effort To Fight Hackers. Financial Services Roundtable is joining forces with the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the American Bankers Association, the National Restaurant Association, and other trade groups to launch a new working group. Together the industries plan to combine their brain power to fight hackers and work with Congress on any new possible laws. (“Stores, Banks Team Up To Fight Hackers,” The Hill, 2/13/14)
Retailers are leading the fight for “chip-and-PIN” technology, which is the safest technology available today to protect against data breaches and fraud.
Including A PIN Can Make A Transaction Up To 700 Percent More Secure. A 2013 study by the Federal Reserve found that using PINs in debit card transactions reduced fraud by 700 percent. (“2011 Interchange Fee Revenue, Covered Issuer Costs, And Covered Issuer And Merchant Fraud Losses Related To Debit Card Transactions,” Federal Reserve, 3/5/13)
“Chip-And-PIN” Is A Tested Technology That The U.S. Needs To Employ. When defending against cyber-attacks, there are no silver bullets. Instead, strong defenses rely on layers of protections. Widespread migration to Chip-and-PIN is one of those very important layers. Working across the payments ecosystem with merchants, card networks, banks and credit unions, we hope to achieve that goal and build for a more secure future for our shared customer, the American consumer. (“Chip-And-PIN Increases Cybersecurity,” The Hill, 10/21/14)
The retail industry has been at the forefront of cybersecurity – just last month the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC) launched a portal to speed up its ability to spread information in the face of rapidly escalating attacks on payment and other retail data.
A Retailer’s Group Formed To Share Cyberattack And Threat Information. Along with making it easier for retailers to report threat information that they uncover, the portal will allow retailers to receive intelligence from law enforcement, government agencies and key partners. It’s also intended to help provide security education and research offerings for retailers. (“Retail’s Cybersecurity Center Adopts Intel-Sharing Portal,” PYMNTS, 3/26/14)
Retailers are working with Congress to craft new data breach and cyber security legislation that will inform and safeguard our customers.
Retailers Are Backing Strong Federal Data Breach Legislation To Protect Consumers.When attacks on consumer information are successful and will cause economic harm, retailers believe that their customers have the right to be notified as promptly as possible. Retailers also believe that they have an obligation to provide customers with information that is as accurate and actionable as possible so that they can take steps to protect themselves.(RILA Outlines Key Elements Of Data Breach Legislation At Congressional Hearing, 1/27/15)
Retailers Support Legislation To Strengthen Info Sharing Tools With Law Enforcement.Retailers understand that defense against cyber-attacks must be an ongoing effort, evolving to address the changing nature of the threat. RILA is committed to working with Congress to give law enforcement and retailers the tools necessary to thwart this unprecedented attack on the U.S. economy and bring the fight to cybercriminals around the globe. (RILA Outlines Key Elements Of Data Breach Legislation At Congressional Hearing, 1/27/15)
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Jason Brewer
Vice President, Communications & Advocacy
Phone: 703-600-2050
Email: jason.brewer@rila.org