By Chester Ritchie, NCR Merchant Solutions
Here are the Top 5 restaurant EMV myths, debunked:
If you’re a restaurant operator in the U.S., no government agency or industry association requires you to implement EMV. You will not be fined if you do not integrate EMV terminals by the Oct. 1 “deadline date.” It is your decision as a business owner whether or not, when and how to implement EMV.
You do not need to implement EMV to be compliant with Payments Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). While EMV can be one component of a larger data security strategy, it is neither required nor mandated by PCI DSS. Implementing EMV also will not automatically make you PCI compliant.
Magnetic stripes on credit cards are going to be with us for quite some time. In fact, new chip cards will also have magnetic stripes for this very reason. If you’re EMV-ready and a customer pays with an older mag stripe card, simply swipe it through your new payment terminal’s card reader. Regardless of whether or not you’ve integrated EMV into your POS, you’ll be able to take all credit cards in your restaurant.
Implementing EMV alone will not protect your restaurant from a potential breach. While EMV helps to prevent counterfeit card use, it’s not the end-all, be-all of restaurant data security. There are measures you can put into place beyond EMV – such as encryption, tokenization and automated fraud checks – that will give you better protection and peace-of-mind.