Heartland Payment Systems, the card processor whose 2008 security breach may have compromised the most card data ever, announced it has completed the first step in developing end-to-end encryption.
Since Heartland experienced its breach, which is still the subject of litigation, the company has been aggressive in developing end-to-end encryption protocol.
The first step transmitted the most highly encrypted card data from a point-of-sale terminal the company developed through to its card processing platform.
"Yesterday's transactions involved a Texas-based merchant and multiple credit card, prepaid and signature debit card transactions testing each of the major card brands," explained Heartland CEO Robert Carr.
"These cards were read by our newly developed pilot tamper-resistant security module terminal. The data was encrypted as the electronic digits left the magnetic stripe and entered the TRSM hardware device. The data was then successfully transmitted to and through our processing platform for authorization and settlement," he said.
