Monday 14 May 2012

PCI Compliance Standards Protect Your Customers

By Kate Bailey


The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) applies to companies of any size that accept credit card payments. If your company intends to accept card payment, and store, process or transmit cardholder data, you need to host your data securely with a PCI compliant hosting provider.

One of the internet's biggest issues is security; as an e-retailer you need to ensure that your online shop is safe and secure throughout the payment process, handling sensitive information efficiently and securely. This brings me on to this week's blog topic; PCI Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). In laymen's terms this is the framework and set of regulations compiled by the PCI Security Standards Council within which online merchants must operate in order to be compliant. It demands that merchants develop a tenacious online card payment system, incorporating processes for prevention, detection and appropriate responses to security incidents.

Some business owners think that keeping up with PCI standards costs too much money and effort to be worth it. In fact, a security breach for a company of any size can have severe consequences. A small or medium sized merchant can face hundreds of thousands of dollars due to a security leak-and that is not all.

Level 3: Your company has 20,000 to 1 million Visa and/or Mastercard e-commerce transactions processed per year. You must complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) annually, and this level also requires a network scan with an approved scanning vendor. Level 4: You have less than 20,000 Visa and/or Mastercard e-commerce transactions processed per year. Must complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) annually, and requires a network scan with an approved scanning vendor.

By narrowing down what level and type of merchant you are, you're well on your way to becoming PCI compliant. The PCI Compliance standards are important to you as a business and in order to keep your customer information safe and secure.




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