Posted on Sunday, 20th May 2012 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.
What Is PCI Compliance? PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance entails following the standards set forth by the industry. This is mandatory for all merchants that process, transmit, or store any cardholder data. If you accept payment through any form of payment card, then you are held responsible for becoming and remaining PCI compliant. Whether you conduct business over the phone or in the mail, in store, or online, you still qualify as a merchant and are accountable to the industry standards. All credit card brands support the PCI standard, including: Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. To show your compliance as a business, you must possess a secure collection of customer data that is tamper-proof and ready for analysis. You also need to prove that data protection controls are in use, and that you have an auto-alert system that continually monitors access and usage of data.
Why Should I Comply? As a merchant, you are probably wondering why you need to comply with the PCI Security Standards. These strict guidelines seem like a lot of effort, especially to small organizations. However Payment Card Security is becoming increasingly important and implementing precautionary measures could be potentially business saving. Some of the reasons why (as highlighted by the PCI Compliance Council*) it would benefit to comply with the PCI Security Standards are: Compliance with the PCI DSS means that your systems are secure, and customers can trust you with their sensitive payment card information. Trust means your customers have confidence in doing business with you.
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.
Learn more about the pci compliance standards. Stop by Kate Bailey’s site where you can find out all about the payment card industry compliance standards and what they can do for you.
Tags: Online Business
Posted in Online Business | Comments (0)



