Monday, May 14, 2007

Wireless Credit Card Terminals

Merchant Credit Card Terminals
By Kent Pinkerton

Merchant credit card terminals are electronic devices offering fast, low-cost means to authorize and process credit card transactions. They are very commonly used in retail stores and restaurants. Most merchant credit card terminals accept all major credit, debit, and private-label cards offering low-cost credit card authorization, check guarantee, and data capture for a range of retail applications.

A terminal to process credit cards is a great investment to your business. Most merchant credit card terminals support Internet-based services such as e-mail, electronic signature, interactive electronic coupons, onscreen advertising, cash management reporting, and e-commerce. They make transactions more convenient, faster, and accurate for both customers and merchants.

At first, merchant credit card processing terminals verify your customer's card information. Then they withdraw money for the purchase from the customer?s account and deposit it directly into your merchant account. The most important units of merchant credit card terminals are card readers with a small keypad and display. They require power supply and can communicate through a telephone line. Modern terminals are powered by batteries and can communicate wireless or over the Internet. They come in several sizes and prices.

There are many types of merchant credit card terminals: traditional terminals (with or without printers), wireless terminals, and virtual or software-based terminals. Merchants with a permanent place of business need a basic card reader terminal. In this case, the terminal is placed right on the counter where all transactions take place. For businesses that constantly change locations, a wireless credit card processing terminal is a good choice. It is suitable for merchants who are always on the go.

Millions of merchant credit card terminals ship annually and the majority have the same basic functions and features. It can only be used in combination with a merchant account that processes credit card transactions. Businesses already using credit card terminals need to buy extra equipments to maintain additional services such as debit card transactions and issuing and accepting gift cards. A number of terminals also support additional forms of payment such as electronic bank transfers and phone cards.

Credit Card Terminals provides detailed information on Credit Card Terminals, Credit Card Terminal Systems, Wireless Credit Card Terminals, Credit Card Processing Terminals and more. Credit Card Terminals is affiliated with Credit Card Processing Software.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kent_Pinkerton
http://EzineArticles.com/?Merchant-Credit-Card-Terminals&id=353177

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Wireless Credit Card Terminals

Is Your Wireless Network Secure?
By Jeremy Whittaker

Networking professionals are encouraging people to think
twice about wireless network security. You might be
thinking I use WEP-128 bit encryption with MAC address
filtering, I’m safe. Or you may be you’ve never even heard
of WEP, if this is the case you might want to unplug your
wireless access point immediately. But then again look at
the bright side at least you don’t have the false sense of
security that your network is secure. Perhaps you are the
smart guy who knows how insecure wireless networks are. You
too are at just an equal risk!

Your computer consultant might be partially right when they
say WEP will protect your network. It will protect your
network from casual snooping but that is about it. Last
year the FBI was able to crack a WEP protected network in
less than 3 minutes with tools widely available on the
internet. Since then it’s been downhill for WEP.

At this point you might be thinking, “Oh well, someone gets
on my network and uses the internet”. This is completely
false. If someone has gone through the process of getting
on your network chances are the only thing they want is not
internet access. Any computer security professional will
tell you that physical access to the network is 95% of the
security battle. Once this has been accomplished you can
consider all of your data compromised. Customer invoices,
customer data, credit card numbers and passwords to
financial institutions will all be in the hands of a hacker.

One in many methods can be used to gain access to your
personal data, whether it’s through Key loggers, Trojans, or
just by sniffing your plaintext network traffic.

Maybe, just maybe, I have not convinced you of the
insecurities of wireless networks. Let me tell you about
another attack that hackers can use to gain access to your
network. Let’s say your access points are completely locked
down, to your knowledge. A user from your network goes and
flips on their laptop while sitting in an airport terminal
waiting for a plane. They see an available insecure
wireless network so they click on it and connect. None of us
have ever done this before right, itching to check their
email one last time before heading out of town? Unbeknownst
to them they have just clicked on a fake honeypot wireless
network, set up by a rogue hacker that before they can even
realize their machine is already being scanned. Picture for
a moment that user could be anywhere, even sitting at a desk
in your network. Just as long as the rogue access point is
stronger than your AP’s radio signal you’re security is
done.

May be you fall into the category of never setting up
wireless networks because you read about their insecurities.

How then can you be at risk? Just consider for a moment
that a user in your organization fires up his wireless card.

See’s a wireless network that is named XYZCorp after your
company. So they connect to it and immediately a script is
hammering their machine for security vulnerabilities. Once
again they connected to a rogue access point setup by a
hacker. Now you might be thinking. “C’mon you must have to
be a computer genius to find and run these tools.” Think
again, thanks to the kind people over at remote-exploit.org
all these tools can be downloaded in one big happy ISO file.

Burned to a CD as an image and bang you’re done, ready to
take a drive to the nearest business and start sniffing
credit card numbers. Everything wrapped into a nice package
just waiting for the next script kiddy to start running the
programs. You may be thinking ok this is a major problem so
what should I do? Give up my organizations ability to use
wireless networks? This isn’t exactly what we are saying.
A newer wireless security technology has taken over in 2004
called WPA. It is more secure than WEP. And so far tools
are not as readily available to hack your network. But
consider the following. WEP was ratified in the late 1990’s
less than six years later it was exploited. This is typical
of almost every computer technology. It is only a matter of
time before technologies are exploited. Just always
remember Security is a multi-tiered companywide
responsibility. From providing physical security to web
site security all matters should be considered serious and
not taken lightly. So before you grab a wireless access
point and slap it in your network, I urge you to think
twice.

You may think you are in a sinking boat because you are a
small organization not able to implement the latest
technologies and afford the newest access points. Or maybe
you cannot afford to pay an IT staff over 100k-200k a year
to maintain your medium size network. Executives at
N2
Network Solutions say you should consider IT outsourcing or
IT consulting. You can get Industry certified engineers on
a project by project basis. Contractual relationships are
also available to dump the responsibility of your network
into their hands for a fraction of the price. To keep your
small to medium size network performing like a Fortune 500
machine invest the capital and secure your assets.

Jeremy Whittaker is a Senior Consultant for N2 Network Solutions, a leader in Phoenix IT Outsourcing, providing computer services and Phoenix IT Consulting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeremy_Whittaker
http://EzineArticles.com/?Is-Your-Wireless-Network-Secure?&id=256379

































Wireless networking in today's market is everywhere. But is it secure? Even if you haven't installed or configured wireless networking in your network. You can still be at risk.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Wireless Credit Card Terminals

Is Your Wireless Network Secure?
By Jeremy Whittaker

Networking professionals are encouraging people to think
twice about wireless network security. You might be
thinking I use WEP-128 bit encryption with MAC address
filtering, I’m safe. Or you may be you’ve never even heard
of WEP, if this is the case you might want to unplug your
wireless access point immediately. But then again look at
the bright side at least you don’t have the false sense of
security that your network is secure. Perhaps you are the
smart guy who knows how insecure wireless networks are. You
too are at just an equal risk!

Your computer consultant might be partially right when they
say WEP will protect your network. It will protect your
network from casual snooping but that is about it. Last
year the FBI was able to crack a WEP protected network in
less than 3 minutes with tools widely available on the
internet. Since then it’s been downhill for WEP.

At this point you might be thinking, “Oh well, someone gets
on my network and uses the internet”. This is completely
false. If someone has gone through the process of getting
on your network chances are the only thing they want is not
internet access. Any computer security professional will
tell you that physical access to the network is 95% of the
security battle. Once this has been accomplished you can
consider all of your data compromised. Customer invoices,
customer data, credit card numbers and passwords to
financial institutions will all be in the hands of a hacker.

One in many methods can be used to gain access to your
personal data, whether it’s through Key loggers, Trojans, or
just by sniffing your plaintext network traffic.

Maybe, just maybe, I have not convinced you of the
insecurities of wireless networks. Let me tell you about
another attack that hackers can use to gain access to your
network. Let’s say your access points are completely locked
down, to your knowledge. A user from your network goes and
flips on their laptop while sitting in an airport terminal
waiting for a plane. They see an available insecure
wireless network so they click on it and connect. None of us
have ever done this before right, itching to check their
email one last time before heading out of town? Unbeknownst
to them they have just clicked on a fake honeypot wireless
network, set up by a rogue hacker that before they can even
realize their machine is already being scanned. Picture for
a moment that user could be anywhere, even sitting at a desk
in your network. Just as long as the rogue access point is
stronger than your AP’s radio signal you’re security is
done.

May be you fall into the category of never setting up
wireless networks because you read about their insecurities.

How then can you be at risk? Just consider for a moment
that a user in your organization fires up his wireless card.

See’s a wireless network that is named XYZCorp after your
company. So they connect to it and immediately a script is
hammering their machine for security vulnerabilities. Once
again they connected to a rogue access point setup by a
hacker. Now you might be thinking. “C’mon you must have to
be a computer genius to find and run these tools.” Think
again, thanks to the kind people over at remote-exploit.org
all these tools can be downloaded in one big happy ISO file.

Burned to a CD as an image and bang you’re done, ready to
take a drive to the nearest business and start sniffing
credit card numbers. Everything wrapped into a nice package
just waiting for the next script kiddy to start running the
programs. You may be thinking ok this is a major problem so
what should I do? Give up my organizations ability to use
wireless networks? This isn’t exactly what we are saying.
A newer wireless security technology has taken over in 2004
called WPA. It is more secure than WEP. And so far tools
are not as readily available to hack your network. But
consider the following. WEP was ratified in the late 1990’s
less than six years later it was exploited. This is typical
of almost every computer technology. It is only a matter of
time before technologies are exploited. Just always
remember Security is a multi-tiered companywide
responsibility. From providing physical security to web
site security all matters should be considered serious and
not taken lightly. So before you grab a wireless access
point and slap it in your network, I urge you to think
twice.

You may think you are in a sinking boat because you are a
small organization not able to implement the latest
technologies and afford the newest access points. Or maybe
you cannot afford to pay an IT staff over 100k-200k a year
to maintain your medium size network. Executives at
N2
Network Solutions say you should consider IT outsourcing or
IT consulting. You can get Industry certified engineers on
a project by project basis. Contractual relationships are
also available to dump the responsibility of your network
into their hands for a fraction of the price. To keep your
small to medium size network performing like a Fortune 500
machine invest the capital and secure your assets.

Jeremy Whittaker is a Senior Consultant for N2 Network Solutions, a leader in Phoenix IT Outsourcing, providing computer services and Phoenix IT Consulting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeremy_Whittaker
http://EzineArticles.com/?Is-Your-Wireless-Network-Secure?&id=256379

































Wireless networking in today's market is everywhere. But is it secure? Even if you haven't installed or configured wireless networking in your network. You can still be at risk.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Wireless Credit Card Terminals

Free Credit Card Processing
By Thomas Morva

It is difficult to run a successful e-commerce project without being able to make credit card transactions. Credit card processing involves many things, such as the verification of the consumer's credit card number, expiry date, and other data connected with credit cards.

If you are a beginner in business, free credit card processing services would be an ideal option for you. Unlike regular credit card processing, you don't have to pay for expensive credit card processing software, customer service fees, a secure server, minimum transaction fees, and monthly gateway fees when using free credit card processing.

Most free credit card processing companies charge only a nominal fee per transaction or a monthly percentage fee. Therefore, free processing helps you save a significant amount of money every month. However, this does not work well when merchant accounts are involved. Regular credit card processing involves the payment of a statement fee, a minimum fee, a discount fee, and a license fee, in addition to start-up fees.

If you opt to go with free credit card processing, it is advisable that you visit a credit processing firm to learn what kind of transactions are generally done in credit card processing. Third party credit card processing companies can be a good resource for those who are looking for a less expensive means to accept credit cards online. They normally offer free credit card processing services. Their merchant account doesn?t charge any fee for many transactions, including phone, fax, retail, mail, Internet, or wireless businesses.

Lots of free credit card processing companies do not entail creating your own merchant account. Today, many online businesses make use of free credit card processing. They include CCBill, iBill, V-Share, and ShareIt.

Credit Card Processing provides detailed information on Credit Card Processing, Online Credit Card Processing, Credit Card Processing Software, Wireless Credit Card Processing and more. Credit Card Processing is affiliated with Wireless Credit Card Terminals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Morva
http://EzineArticles.com/?Free-Credit-Card-Processing&id=353155

























It is difficult to run a successful e-commerce project without being able to make credit card transactions. Credit card processing involves many things, such as the verification of the consumer's credit card number, expiry date, and other data connected with credit cards.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Wireless Credit Card Terminals

POS
By Steve Valentino

Point of sale (POS) is just another name for the cash counters where you pay for your purchases. This could be a supermarket or a highway establishment or any other physical location where money is exchanged across the counter for consumer goods. But gone are the days when one used gingers and mental arithmetic for cash transactions. POS technology has revolutionized consumerism around the world. Electronic calculation, automatic billing, credit card processing, and an accurate record of all day-to-day activities are all just a click away if you have POS systems at your outlet. POS are designed to streamline sales processes and increase efficiency at the point of sale. The error margin in accounts and staff management is considerably less compared to manual POS management, as information is stored and accessed electronically.

POS technology was first developed as barcode readers and electronic cash registers for the Universal Product Code (UPC) in 1974 for the United States and Canada; it was aimed at accelerating the payment process in a business transaction. But now, they are fully standardized computer systems that keep track of the customer records, stores, and product information in a sales or service outlet. What first served as an advanced calculator has now emerged as a means of foolproof remote management of business procedures across the globe. With the advent of wireless technology, POS has taken a step forward with handheld POS systems that bring information to your fingertips.

Many manufacturers and dealers offer ready-to-use POS technology, complete with hardware, software, and equipment to suit the specific needs of different users. They include monitors, computer terminals, scanners, printers, and cash registers, along with easy installation software CDROMS. Basic computer requirements for a basic POS system are Windows, UNIX, or Linux, depending upon the kind of software used for point-of-sale activities. Gathering business intelligence becomes much faster with the aid of a POS system, providing for accurate planning of profit margins and increasing sales efficiency.

POS provides detailed information on POS, POS Software, POS Systems, Restaurant POS and more. POS is affiliated with Metal Store Fixtures.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Valentino
http://EzineArticles.com/?POS&id=204452

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Wireless Credit Card Terminals

Free Credit Card Processing
By Thomas Morva

It is difficult to run a successful e-commerce project without being able to make credit card transactions. Credit card processing involves many things, such as the verification of the consumer's credit card number, expiry date, and other data connected with credit cards.

If you are a beginner in business, free credit card processing services would be an ideal option for you. Unlike regular credit card processing, you don't have to pay for expensive credit card processing software, customer service fees, a secure server, minimum transaction fees, and monthly gateway fees when using free credit card processing.

Most free credit card processing companies charge only a nominal fee per transaction or a monthly percentage fee. Therefore, free processing helps you save a significant amount of money every month. However, this does not work well when merchant accounts are involved. Regular credit card processing involves the payment of a statement fee, a minimum fee, a discount fee, and a license fee, in addition to start-up fees.

If you opt to go with free credit card processing, it is advisable that you visit a credit processing firm to learn what kind of transactions are generally done in credit card processing. Third party credit card processing companies can be a good resource for those who are looking for a less expensive means to accept credit cards online. They normally offer free credit card processing services. Their merchant account doesn?t charge any fee for many transactions, including phone, fax, retail, mail, Internet, or wireless businesses.

Lots of free credit card processing companies do not entail creating your own merchant account. Today, many online businesses make use of free credit card processing. They include CCBill, iBill, V-Share, and ShareIt.

Credit Card Processing provides detailed information on Credit Card Processing, Online Credit Card Processing, Credit Card Processing Software, Wireless Credit Card Processing and more. Credit Card Processing is affiliated with Wireless Credit Card Terminals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Morva
http://EzineArticles.com/?Free-Credit-Card-Processing&id=353155