Though your business is not the prime target of identity theft, your customers are. Thieves can replicate a customer’s identity by gaining access to his/her information stored within your business.

To protect against identity theft, the Office of Consumer Affairs developed the "Identity Theft Toolkit for Business". It is a Best Practices guide provided by the government, outlining steps you can take to keep sensitive information secure. Download toolkit.

These same Best Practices are covered in the Visa Account Information Security program (AIS), with which all Visa merchants are required to comply.

Visa has aligned its AIS program with MasterCard's SDP program, to provide a common set of industry tools and measurements. This helps to ensure the safe handling of sensitive information and improve cardholder confidence. Merchants and service providers can access the status of their security by using a single set of security requirements for all payment organizations.

These requirements will reduce complexity and result in wider acceptance of standard security requirements for the industry. The alignment also allows merchants and service providers to select one vendor and implement a single process to comply with both Visa and MasterCard data security programs.