We’ve all heard the news that more and more universities are being targeted, and even successfully breached. This is especially true as higher education moves towards more online platforms and third party software/service providers. In 2017 alone, there have been over 120 breaches within educational institutions.
There are many preventative steps to take within higher education to protect your data from the inside such as mandatory staff training, two-step verification passwords, and keeping employees/students aware of suspicious emails. But we all know that’s not enough.
As scary, inconvenient, and potentially damaging as a data breach is, it’s also expensive for universities. With costs per stolen credit card record averaging $245 each and increasing every year, it’s clear that preventative measures need to be in place to manage payment technology security.
Data Breach Liabilities & Hard Costs
- Auditor & Legal Defense Costs
- Fees & Fines ($500,000 per Card Brand)
- Customer Notifications & Consumer Protection
- Reissuing Credit Cards
- Fraudulent Charge Expenses
Data Breach Soft Costs
- Credit Card Acceptance Restrictions
- Operational Distractions
- Customer Confidence & School Reputational Losses
- Reduced Revenue & Donations
To bring this information into perspective, it would cost a university $2.5M per 10,000 records stolen. How many records is your university handling per year? How many are stored on file?
The most effective and preventative solution for all organizations is Point-To-Point Encryption (P2PE) which removes all readable card data from your operations, computers, networks, and servers leaving potential hackers with useless encrypted card data.
Arrow Payments is focused on assessing university department payment needs, researching secure solutions, implementing upgraded technologies, training users and providing ongoing systems support. Adding P2PE protection to your university will save time, money and your reputation by reducing security complexity, PCI compliance scope and the potential of a data breach.
Reach out to [email protected] with questions or goals we can help you achieve.
