PixelPoint News           

Click here for a letter to our customers                                                                         

PixelPoint POS Ver.8.1 is now CISP Certified.

 Please be advised that Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover (collectively known as the “Association”) are exerting great pressure on their member banks to ensure that all merchants accepting their card brands strictly adhere to the Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard, or “PCI”. The PCI mandate defines strict standards for the processing and storage of credit card information to which all merchants must adhere in order to continue accepting credit cards and to avoid substantial fines.

 As a technology provider, we continue to take this initiative very seriously. When the new Association guidelines were announced, which prohibited the long-accepted and approved practice of storing track data, PAR PixelPoint immediately began to ensure that our software products adhered to these guidelines. Following these guidelines, PAR PixelPoint implemented changes to its POS applications to prevent the storage of full magnetic stripe data since PixelPoint POS Version 7.1. We are pleased to announce that PAR PixelPoint has submitted our most recent POS software version, 8.1, to Visa to have it certified as compliant with Visa’s "Payment Application Best Practices" , which are guidelines established by Visa to assist software vendors in creating secure payment applications compatible with Visa “Card Information Security Program”, or CISP. The audit was performed and we are please to announce that PixelPoint POS Ver.8.1 is CISP certified.

 One of the highest priority elements of the 12-point PCI security program is to ensure that full credit card track (swipe) and CVV data is not stored in any form after an authorization is completed. This point is extremely important due to the concern that one could create a fraudulent credit card if access to this sensitive data is gained. There are several other steps that merchants will need to address in order to become fully compliant with this standard. Additional information can be found at www.visa.com. The Association has stated that it shall proactively administer fines to member banks that have merchants that are storing full magnetic stripe data. These fines could be imposed at any time, and could be very large. If you are identified as a merchant storing track data at individual sites or corporate offices, there is an increased likelihood that your bank may be fined and will pass the fine to you for non-compliance.

 It is because of these serious implications that we have taken these steps to insure that we are providing our customers with the most secure POS software for the hospitality industry possible. We will continue to stride towards meeting and exceeding these guidelines to insure our clients and their customer’s financial information is secure.