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Heartland to offer Merchant Breach Warranty

If the encryption fails on a Heartland Secure machine, Heartland will reimburse the merchant for the amount of compliance fines, fees and/or assessments the merchant must pay to the card brands, issuing banks and acquiring banks.

January 12, 2015

Heartland Payment Systems announced it will offer a comprehensive warranty that protects businesses from payment card breach losses in the event of a breach.

"Many small business owners aren't aware of the magnitude of data security breaches or the potential liabilities lurking around the corner. Damage to a company's reputation can be catastrophic, and the fines can be overwhelming," said Michael English, executive director of Product Development, in a company press release. "By combining EMV, encryption and tokenization, Heartland eliminates clear text-card data from the merchant's point-of-sale system and network. As we have seen in recent breaches at major retailers and restaurants, it is difficult to maintain a secure network. Through encryption and tokenization, a merchant eliminates clear text card data so if their network is breached, there is no card data to steal and monetize."

Heartland's breach warranty is offered at no charge to its Heartland Secure merchants in the first year and can be extended for $8.33 per month per card-entry device. To be covered under the warranty, a merchant must have a Heartland Secure-certified device and process payments through Heartland on that device.

If the encryption fails on a Heartland Secure machine, Heartland will reimburse the merchant for the amount of compliance fines, fees and/or assessments the merchant must pay to the card brands, issuing banks and acquiring banks.