Credit card processing machines are pretty safe to use today. There are many different security measures that are put into place so that the information these machines transmit will be guarded from prying eyes. Most credit card processing machines use more than one type of security to make certain the data that is supposed to be private remains private.
At one time credit card processing machines made paper receipts of the transactions that were charged on them. There were three copies of the receipt that had all of the identifying numbers on them so there were three chances for the information to get into the wrong hands.
Many people did not realize that the three copies were also accompanied by one or more carbon sheets that had been used to transfer the information to all of the pages. Today credit card processing machines do everything electronically and do not require a carbon copy of the transaction to be made. This lowers the risk of someone obtaining the information easily.
The new machines also encrypt the data that is transmitted. The account number and all of the identifying numbers that are transmitted during a transaction will be encrypted so that they cannot be easily read if they are intercepted on the way to or from the bank.
The firewalls and the antivirus are part of the package that the distributor of the majority of these devices offers their customers. The merchant will sign an agreement to pay the distributor a certain percentage of all of the sales transactions processed through the machines for the use of the machines, the provision of security measures that will keep them in compliance with regulatory protocol, and the maintenance and upkeep of the equipment.
Electronic devices scare a lot of people because traditionally when an electronic device breaks you have to call a technician to come and repair it. The technician generally takes a long time to get to where you are and you lose time and money while the machine does not work. These devices are different because the company that is coming to repair them has a stake in them working properly. They only get their percentage if sales are made through the devices so customer support will be on the way immediately when a merchant has a problem.
Security measures will be established that will alert someone to the fact that there is suspicious activity happening in the system. These alerts will allow you to check the problem out and determine if the risk is great or small that your security has been breached. There will be actions to take for whatever level of risk you think the breach poses to your system and the information contained in that system.