Mar 13, 2015

By: Rhett Asher, Vice President, Asset Protection, Data Security & Crisis Management and Hannah Walker, FMI Director of Government Relations
data breach

What do FMI’s Board of Directors, Public Affairs Committee, Government Relations Committee, Asset Protection Committee, Chief Financial Officers Committee and Electronic Payments System Committee have in common?  All of these groups list data security and cyber protection as a top priority. 

This week FMI held its annual Asset Protection Conference in Memphis, TN, where attendees participated in a table top exercise that had them work through a data breach scenario and share ideas on preparation and potential responses to a breach.  The exercise is a great tool participants can take back and use in their respective companies.  Another session focused on the future of payments, exploring opportunities to devalue the data criminals are targeting, and discussed emerging technologies that will add more layers of protection and authentication in the payments sphere. 

The Asset Protection Conference isn’t the only venue for FMI members to discuss data security. At the FMI Board meeting in January, members discussed data security and the emerging threats to merchants. The FMI Government Relations Committee recently considered proposed legislation to create one national data security and breach notification standard and the opportunities and challenges the legislation poses to merchants. FMI’s Electronic Payments System Committee is keenly focused on improving payment data security and new technology solutions to protect consumers’ payment information.  The upcoming Financial Executives Committee meeting will also take a look at data security and the role of a CFO in merchants’ cyber protection plans.

All of these diverse areas of interest throughout FMI are a strong reflection of how the industry is looking at data security; everyone in food retail plays a role in protecting sensitive consumer and employee information.  In addition to the many opportunities FMI offers to share ideas and learn more about data security, we offer a variety of tools members can access online.  For additional resources and information, visit www.fmi.org/AssetProtection or contact Rhett Asher or Hannah Walker.

As long as merchants are targets of cyber attacks and data breaches, FMI will continue to offer learning resources and provide venues for sharing ideas and opportunities to explore new technologies to face these threats.