Patent ID: 7891563

Claim:
A method of adding security to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal which communicates over a network with a POS server, the POS terminal including a POS terminal application installed thereon and a payment card reader, the POS terminal application configured to communicate with the POS server over a non-secure channel to process payment card transactions, the method comprising: installing a POS security layer on the POS terminal, the POS security layer configured to at least: (a) intercept payment data received from the payment card reader when a user initiates a payment card transaction, the payment data comprising actual card data; (b) pass false card data to the POS terminal application for use in place of the actual card data, such that the false card data is transmitted over the non-secure channel to the POS server in place of the actual card data; and (c) transmit the actual card data to the POS server over a secure channel; such that the actual card data is inhibited from being transmitted over a non-secure channel.