„These independent research findings should be a wakeup call for business leaders,“ said Jean-Francois Schreiber, Senior Vice President for Identity, Data and Software Services at Gemalto. „Given what was found with traditional payment methods and data security, companies involved with payment data must realize compliance is not enough and fully rethink their security practices, especially since a full one-third of those surveyed said compliance with PCI DSS is not sufficient for ensuring the security and integrity of payment data. The financial fallouts from data breaches, and the damages to corporate reputation and customer relationships will carry even greater potential risk as newer payment methods gain adoption,“ added Schreiber.

New Payment Methods on the Rise and So Are Security Concerns
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% of all payments. Given the issues companies IT professionals reported to face in securing payment data accepted today through traditional methods, companies are likely to face even more difficulties in securing new payment methods. In fact, the study found that 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 organization’s existing security protocols are capable of supporting these platforms.

„Looking forward, as companies move to accept newer payment methods, their own confidence in their ability to protect that data is not strong. 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 organizations are ready. It is clearly critical for companies to look for and invest in solutions to close these data protection gaps, expeditiously,“ concluded Schreiber.

To read the entire study and country-specific data findings, click here.