August is one of the most popular vacation months, which means a surge in people hitting the roads … and the gas pumps. Swiping credit and debit cards at the pump to fill up is convenient for consumers, but this environment poses unique payment security challenges for petroleum and convenience store owners — largely due to the way PIN encryption for pump controllers was designed in the mid-1980s.

In war, it is best to be very close to your bunker when attacked. The same is true for PINs that are subject to attack by skimmers. At some unattended fuel pumps, PINs are encrypted in the pump controller, which is typically inside the store — usually far, far away from the CRIND (card reader in the dispenser). Without a tamper resistant security module (TRSM) or triple DES (TDES) protection, the transmission lines are left wide open to compromise by skimming devices.

Check out my column in the June issue of CSP Magazine to learn more about security at the pump and the importance of TRSMs and TDES to better protect businesses — and customers — from data theft.