Information Security, Data Breaches, and Protecting Cardholder Information: Facing Up to the Challenges

The two-day event was designed to bring together a diverse set of stakeholders from the U.S. payments industry to discuss a framework to guide industry practices and inform public policy. In attendance were individuals from the major payments networks, card issuers, and banks, as well as consumer and merchant representatives and regulators. Conference participants emphasized that the industry must address two fundamental issues: (1) increasingly dangerous threats to sensitive consumer information and (2) public perception and understanding of the risks from data breaches. These challenges are related but need different solutions. A consensus emerged that while the situation is not yet dire, it is serious. All payments stakeholders must be ready to work together to devise solutions today so that the benefits of the electronic payments system are uninterrupted in the future.