KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and white list ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ****************************** Secure your website if you take credit cards / Authenticating your customer’s identity March 1, 2021 ********************** Secure your website if you take credit cards *********************** Ken In January hackers accessed our website and began running credit card transactions. We contacted Skybank and we were told that someone was running CC numbers and they were being declined and not to worry about it. We notified Skybank that our ability to have customers pay their bills via CC was shut down since we had so many failed transactions, over124,000 of them. We were charged $21,000 for all of the transactions that were declined. Skybank reversed most of the charges and suggested we use a module called iSpyFraud, which charges us an additional $10.00 per month and $0.10 per transaction. You should alert others that this can happen to them. Name withheld ******************** Response ********************* Hacking is a nightmare. Like the saying “for every burglar alarm there’s a burglar figuring out how to circumvent it”, well hackers are working non-stop to be annoying and sometimes worst, disruptive and causing immense financial ruin. You have to take measures to secure your website if you are processing credit cards or just accumulating customer information. I guess the charges for excessive transactions which were declined are not much different than the charge we have in the Standard Form Agreements for excessive signals. ************************ Authenticating your customer’s identity ************************ Whether you are signing up a customer face to face, or over the Internet, you have the same problem when it comes time to enforce the contract and the customer claims, “it’s not me; I never signed this contract”. What measures do you really have to take to stay within the realm of reasonable precaution? Is copy of a driver’s license enough or do you need a DNA swab; a bunch of witnesses to the signature or a notary public? The Standard Form Agreements called for social security numbers. We received some push back. The social security number is a unique number generally known only to the individual assigned the number, and it comes in handy if we are trying to enforce a judgment against your customer; helps identify assets. On our Disclosure and Consent to Electronic Communication our form asks for three items of personal information: last four digits of social security number, date of birth and mother’s maiden name. It wouldn’t hurt adding this to the Standard Form Agreements. ******************** To order up to dateStandard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements, click here: www.alarmcontracts.com ************************* CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** NOTICE: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles *********************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE
This area is reserved for alarm classifieds, alarm company announcements, solicitations, offers, etc. There is no charge to post a listing here.Include your contact information, phone, email and web site. If you would like to submit a post, please send an email to ken@kirschenbaumesq.com. To create a reciprocal link to our website, click here. ************************************************ Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC Attorneys at Law 200 Garden City Plaza Garden City, NY 11530 516 747 6700 x 301 ken@kirschenbaumesq.com www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
