Crossmatch fingerprint readers help retailer prevent data breaches at Point-of-Sale

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Crossmatch fingerprint readers help retailer prevent data breaches at Point-of-Sale.

Crossmatch, provider of biometric identity management solutions, has announced that its U.are.U 4500 Fingerprint Readers are enabling premium clothing accessory retailer Goorin Bros. to achieve PCI compliance for Point-of-Sale (POS) login. The Crossmatch biometrics-based solution secures access to the POS terminal, protecting the retailer and its customers from the increased risk of data breaches.

With one-third of worldwide retail data breaches targeting POS terminals and two-thirds of these data breaches resulting from weak or shared passwords, Goorin Bros. implemented Crossmatch's fingerprint biometrics solution as part of a targeted initiative to elevate POS security to the highest level, while improving the speed of its POS login protocol. PCI regulations governing POS login require that retailers maintain unique, complex passwords for each employee — passwords which must be changed at regular intervals, such as every 90 days. Prior to biometrics, the retailer's sales associates had to remember complex, frequently changing passwords, and were required to manually enter these passwords before every transaction — a tedious task that slowed customer service, along with the potential for significant delays caused by forgotten passwords.

"The Crossmatch biometrics solution allows us to meet our complex password policies, resulting in PCI POS login compliance and security against data breaches," said Ward Anderson, Sr. Systems Administrator at Goorin Bros. "Our employees can now quickly log in using the fingerprint readers, speeding the process so they can truly focus on our customers."

Goorin Bros. uses Crossmatch U.are.U 4500 Fingerprint Readers, connected directly to the POS terminal, at all of its nationwide locations. Employees log on with their unique biometric credential and are automatically logged off after each transaction. Unlike passwords, which can be shared, the Crossmatch biometric identity solution creates a non-repudiable audit trail for all transactions. The enhanced security provided by the Crossmatch solution has met the expectations of Goorin Bros. management, and the faster, simplified login has been widely embraced by Goorin Bros. employees.

"Our biometrics-based identity solutions are a natural fit for a wide range of retailers, empowering them to increase security while improving customer service at critical access points," said Richard Agostinelli, Crossmatch CEO. "We are excited to see yet another retailer leverage biometrics to achieve outstanding results."