Patent ID: 7841523

Claim:
A method of adding security to a point-of-sale (POS) system that comprises a POS terminal which communicates over a network with a POS server, the POS terminal including a payment card reader and having a POS terminal application installed thereon, the POS server having a POS server application installed thereon which communicates with the POS terminal application 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 actual card data received from the payment card reader when a user initiates a payment card transaction, (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; and installing a server security application on the POS server, the server security application configured to receive the actual card data from the POS security layer over the secure channel and to use the false card data to process the payment card transaction.