WASHINGTON – During a presidential cybersecurity summit in California last week, the Merchant Financial Services Cybersecurity Partnership, of which NACS is a member, announced new recommendations aimed at protecting the payments system. The partnership consists of organizations representing the payments ecosystem of retailers, banks, card companies, security and technology vendors and others. 

The recommendations were featured as part of a White House fact sheet and are part of a series of deliverables committed to by the partnership since its 2014 launch. The partnership is co-chaired by Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) CEO Tim Pawlenty and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) President Sandy Kennedy.

"Ensuring consumers are protected from cyber criminals across the payments system is critical and the merchant and the financial services industries need to continue to collaborate to enhance security measures and battle this common threat," said Kennedy and Pawlenty in a joint statement.

The partnership's recommendations outline new ways companies can use technology to minimize data theft and also reduce the value of payment information if it is stolen or breached. These recommendations address steps to better authenticate customers by fostering data sharing, proactively addressing emerging threats and sharing responsibility for protecting the payment's ecosystem. The recommendations also call for the expansion of collaboration opportunities in the development of technology standards to ensure the safety and security of the payments system.