Research Shows Companies Still Struggle to Protect Consumer Credit Card Data

Ponemon Institute and Imperva Survey Shows Companies Still Struggle to Protect Consumer Credit Card Data

71% of companies do not treat PCI as a strategic initiative —yet 79% have experienced a data breach

55% do not secure Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and bank account details; Consumers are more at risk with smaller businesses

Data security leader Imperva provides recommendations to consumers, businesses and PCI DSS Council in advance of the Oct 31st deadline

(Eskenzi PR) – Imperva and the Ponemon Institute today announced the findings of a survey across more than 500 U.S. and multinational IT security practitioners showing that, despite the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS), companies still struggle with data security, putting consumers at continued risk for identity theft. In fact, 71% of companies surveyed admit to not making data security a top strategic initiative, and 55% admit to only securing credit card information and not sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and bank account details. However, the survey also found that companies taking a strategic approach to PCI compliance have fewer data breaches. Based on these findings, Imperva is making specific recommendations to consumers, businesses and the PCI DSS Council to improve the safety of consumers’ personal information.

The PCI DSS standard was put into effect to provide security guidelines to all businesses that handle credit card information to better protect consumers. Since it was enacted in June 2005, the number of data breaches and amount of credit card fraud has continued to rise.

According to the survey of more than 500 U.S. and multinational IT security practitioners at companies with an average of $5.6 billion in annual revenue:

71% of respondents do not treat PCI as a strategic initiative, yet 79 percent have experienced a data breach involving the loss or theft of credit card information.

55% of respondents focus only on credit card data protection and do not attempt to secure sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account details and other data about people and families.

60% of respondents don’t think they have sufficient resources to comply with PCI and bring about a necessary level of cardholder security.

“Nobody is in business to be compliant. But there is a silver lining to this survey: if you protect consumers as required by the PCI DSS standard, there is an incredible opportunity to improve your overall security posture,” said Shlomo Kramer, Imperva’s CEO.

“Security departments are using PCI compliance as leverage to gain more budget, but these resources are not always translating into greater security for sensitive customer data,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “The results of our study indicate that while some companies have figured out how to convert PCI standards into an overall security mandate—many more have not.”

Smaller businesses struggle the most

The survey found that only 28% of smaller companies (501-1000 employees) comply with PCI as opposed to 70% of larger companies (75,000 or more employees).

“Companies devote 35% of their IT security budgets to PCI compliance on average, making cost a significant obstacle, especially for smaller companies,” explained Amichai Shulman, Imperva’s CTO. “This is why Imperva is recommending that the PCI DSS Council modify the requirements for larger and smaller companies to take into account different environments and security needs.”

“The PCI Security Standards and the card brands must update the PCI-DSS so that it’s risk-based, depending on the system configuration of the complying company. The ‘one size fits all’ approach of the current standard imposes unreasonable requirements on many companies that have simple networks, or have implemented security technologies that aren’t included in the PCI standards, but provide equal or greater levels of protection,” said Avivah Litan, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst with Gartner Research in a May 2009 report, “Moving Beyond PCI at Visa’s Global Security Summit.”

Companies that take a strategic approach to PCI compliance have fewer data breaches

The PCI DSS standard has the potential to make a powerful impact to corporate IT security initiatives. The survey shows that 27% of companies believe that PCI-DSS compliance is positively contributing to their organizations’ security posture and are taking a strategic approach to compliance. In fact, companies that were fully PCI compliant had fewer breaches than those that were not compliant. However, the majority (73%) of respondents have achieved PCI compliance using a basic, checklist approach.

Imperva’s recommendations to consumers, businesses and the PCI DSS Council

To coincide with the October 31st deadline for input on changing PCI-DSS standards, Imperva is providing recommendations to consumers, businesses and the PCI DSS Council.

For PCI-DSS Council:

Have a compliance logo for consumers. Today, companies can’t articulate their security efforts to consumers, and consumers are not aware of the compliance status of the retailers they do business with. As a consequence, companies cannot leverage their investment in PCI compliance to gain competitive advantage.

Modify compliance needs for larger and smaller companies. Smaller companies need to have a modified standard that takes into account different environments and security needs.

Consumer recommendations

Look for PCI compliant companies—In general, companies that were compliant suffered fewer breaches. Although compliance doesn’t guarantee perfect security, it helps the odds.

Business recommendations

Use PCI to bring about a broader, more effective security program.

Use PCI as a way to get senior management aware of and involved in IT security. PCI creates a business case that is tightly coupled to information security.

Assign a clear champion who owns and drives PCI as well as security that is strongly empowered to direct numerous teams for support. Without a clear champion, security—and compliance—will suffer.

For more information

Listen to Imperva’s Chief Security Strategist Brian Contos interview Dr. Larry Ponemon in a podcast or download the transcript.

Imperva, the Data Security leader, enables a complete security lifecycle for business databases and the applications that use them. Over 4,500 of the world’s leading enterprises, government organizations, and managed service providers rely on Imperva to prevent sensitive data theft, protect against data breaches, secure applications, and ensure data confidentiality. The award-winning Imperva SecureSphere is the only solution that delivers full activity monitoring from the database to the accountable application user and is recognized for its overall ease of management and deployment. For more information, visit www.imperva.com.

The Ponemon Institute© is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a variety of industries. Visit the Ponemon Institute at www.ponemon.org.

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