A 16-page study that presents findings from research into how companies approach payment data security is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre. The study also reveals why IT professionals believe the risk to payment data is increasing due to new payment methods.

According to the study, acceptance of new payment methods such as mobile, contactless and e-wallets will double over the next two years. While respondents say mobile payments account for just 9% of all payments today, in two years they expect this ratio to increase to 18%.

However, nearly three quarters (72%) of those surveyed believe these new payment methods are putting payment data at risk and 54% do not believe or are unsure their organisation’s existing security protocols are capable of supporting these platforms.

Lack of confidence

“Looking forward, as companies move to accept newer payment methods, their own confidence in their ability to protect that data is not strong,” says Jean-Francois Schreiber, senior vice president for identity, data and software services at Gemalto.

“The majority of respondents felt protection of payment data wasn’t a top priority at their companies, and that the resources, technologies and personnel in place are insufficient. Despite the trend to implement newer payment methods, those in the ‘IT security trenches’ don’t feel their organisations are ready. It is clearly critical for companies to look for and invest in solutions to close these data protection gaps.”

‘Global Study on the State of Payment Data Security’ is based on research conducted by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of digital security giant Gemalto. More than 3,700 IT and IT security practitioners from the US, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Japan, India, Russian Federation, Middle East and South Africa took part in the research centre’s survey.

Readers can download this white paper free of charge here

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