10 min read
What Makes a Payment Terminal Secure: SmartPOS vs SoftPOS
In the POS systems I have worked on, “is this terminal secure?” almost never has a hardware-only answer. The card read is one boundary. The PIN entry is another. So are …
5 pages
Smartpos
5 min read
Old code isn't the problem. Expired approvals are
Old code isn’t the problem. Expired approvals are. Kernel lifecycle is really compliance alignment: whether the Level 2 (L2) kernel on your terminals still sits inside an …
5 min read
Offline EMV vs Store-and-Forward: Two Different Mechanisms, One Confusing Name
When a POS has no connectivity, merchants still need to accept payments. The industry uses terms like “offline transaction” and “offline processing” loosely …
8 min read
L3 Certification Paths Are Not Created Equal: C-TAP, SmartPOS, and SoftPOS
When people talk about “L3 certification,” they often treat it as a single, uniform process. It isn’t. EMV Level 3 focuses on validating integration of the …
8 min read
POS Terminal Environment Classifications: Attended, Semi-Attended, and Unattended
When you certify a SmartPOS terminal, the environment classification isn’t a minor detail — it’s a first-order architectural decision that determines CVM behavior, risk …