Green Sheet interviews Bluefin's Ruston Miles

As digital payments rapidly expand worldwide, businesses are under increasing pressure to keep transactions both seamless and secure. In this Q&A, Ruston Miles, founder of Bluefin and the company's chief cybersecurity advisor, shares insights on the challenges and opportunities this growth presents. From emerging threats to the vital role of encryption and tokenization, Miles outlines what businesses need to know to stay ahead of fraud risks, safeguard customer data, and build lasting trust in a fast-evolving payments landscape.

1. Digital payments are expected to surge by 43 percent globally in the next four years. What are the biggest security challenges that come with this rapid growth?

The pace of digital payments is increasing rapidly, creating more convenient and faster transactions, but it also brings more significant risks for fraud and data breaches. As merchants adopt more payment types and platforms, like digital wallets and mobile payments, each touchpoint becomes a potential vulnerability.

Maintaining consistent, scalable, omnichannel digital payment security from in-store purchases to ecommerce checkouts should be a priority to support rapid growth without compromising the customer experience of wanting fast and convenient payment options. A unified end-to-end protection security system is essential to remain ahead of the evolving fraud risks coming with the rise of digital payments.

2. You've mentioned that each transaction can be both a business opportunity and a security risk. What makes today's digital payment environment particularly vulnerable to fraud?

With the volume of digital transactions rising, consumer expectations for fast, seamless and secure experiences are growing. Shoppers today expect that their payment and personal information is protected in every instance, so businesses must ensure data is safe at every step of the transaction process.

Security is a key driver of trust and loyalty, as just one breach can cause customers to take their business elsewhere. With more digital transactions happening across more channels, there are more opportunities for a wide range of digital payment fraud tactics. Today's environment is especially vulnerable to fraud tactics because they are evolving with digital payments.

Many systems have not scaled their security to match the increasing fraud risks or utilize one-size-fits-all payment security solutions that are not industry-specific, so the gap between growth and protection makes today's environment vulnerable.

3. How can tokenization and encryption help businesses protect sensitive payment data, and are there any misconceptions about how these technologies work?

Tokenization and encryption are the most effective security measures for protecting sensitive data in today's evolving payment systems. These measures safeguard data at every point in the transaction process.

Encryption protects consumer information from when a purchase is made, like when a card is swiped, or a payment is submitted, making the data unreadable and useless to hackers if intercepted. Tokenization replaces sensitive data with secure, non-sensitive tokens, so even in a breach, there's nothing of value for bad actors to steal.

4. What steps should companies take to ensure their security strategies evolve alongside the fast-changing digital payment climate?

Companies need to make sure they take a proactive approach to digital payment security. Consumers now expect faster and more convenient payment options, and they expect security to keep pace. Smooth and secure payment experiences are now loyalty drivers and if consumers don't feel like their data is safe and protected, they're less likely to return.

Companies need to make sure their security strategies evolve in step with innovation. This means ensuring that there are security measures at every step of the payment process and not just an afterthought.

Security tools like encryption and tokenization should be the foundation, ensuring that sensitive data is protected no matter how or where the payment is made. Companies should also prioritize flexible and scalable solutions to support the new digital payment types and customer experience without compromising protection.

Additionally, companies need to ensure they are not locked into a single Payment Service Provider (PSP) that utilizes proprietary tokens, preventing the business from owning its own tokens.

If that business wants to switch PSPs to better support its growth or evolving needs, it faces a costly and complex process of detokenizing and retokenizing its data with a new provider. This creates a significant barrier to flexibility and innovation and can lead to unnecessary operational disruption and compliance and security risks.

This is especially important as businesses today are storing more payment data, personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) than ever before. Token ownership needs to be a core part of any growing business's security strategy.

5. Are there particular industries or regions more at risk as digital payments grow, and how should they be preparing?

Industries like retail, healthcare and education are especially at risk as digital payments expand due to the high volume of sensitive consumer information they handle. These industries should stay protected by embedding strong payment security measures like encryption and tokenization into their systems.

These measures will create a seamless layer of transaction protection that will keep pace with digital innovation without compromising the customer experience.

6. Looking ahead, what innovations or best practices do you think will shape the future of digital payment security?

As digital payments continue to evolve, the future of digital payment security will depend on how well companies can adapt where speed, convenience and trust are expected all at once. Consumers want seamless and secure payment experiences whether they shop online, in-store or on their phones.

Security must work consistently across an omnichannel environment without adding any unnecessary friction. Tokenization (particularly token ownership) and encryption will continue to lead the way, providing the ability to protect sensitive data through all points and respond quickly to digital payment fraud risks while offering the flexibility to help businesses scale and meet their customers' ever-evolving needs.

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