Toast partners Bluefin to improve payment data security

US-based Toast has partnered with encryption technologies provider Bluefin to improve data payment security for select Toast enterprise clients.

Through this partnership, these Toast clients will benefit from an additional encryption option via PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) for point-of-sale payments. The solution will be developed by Toast and Bluefin later in 2023. 

Toast helps restaurants to run their businesses across point of sale, operations, digital ordering and delivery, marketing and loyalty, and team management by providing them with a single platform of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products and financial technology solutions. As part of this collaboration, the company will white-label Bluefin’s Decryptx solution, which offers PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) as a service. In essence, this solution immediately encrypts sensitive payment data at the point of sale and makes it unreadable in the event of a breach. 

Toast representatives cited by businesswire.com highlighted the importance of using PCI-validated P2PE for payments for restaurant brands. The goal is to provide an additional option for a seamless and secure payment experience to allow Toast’s customers to focus on delivering great dining experiences. 

Bluefin officials cited by the same source talked about their partnership with Toast and how it will offer the enterprise restaurant community an encryption option that facilitates reduced PCI compliance scope and peace of mind around payment data protection.

The cost of data breaches 

According to IBM’s Cost of Data Breach report for 2022, data breaches are becoming more and more expensive each year. Specifically, the cost of a data breach was USD 4.35 million in 2022, which represents a 12.7% increase when compared to 2020. The report highlighted every kind of organisation is vulnerable to data breaches. However, those providing critical infrastructure and healthcare services are the most common targets.

When small businesses fall victim to data breaches, the consequences can be dire, as some of these businesses are forced to shut down completely following an attack. The report finds that the most common sources of data breaches are compromised account credentials, cloud misconfigurations, and phishing. Stolen or compromised credentials were the most common cause of a data breach, and they also took the longest time to identify. 

IBM sees the extensive use of encryption as one of the most effective means of data security. According to the report, encryption represents the fourth largest factor in decreasing the cost of a breach. Moreover, in order to prevent data breaches, organisations could prioritise better security practices and could invest in educating their employees.