Any company that stores or processes financial data transactions must be PCI compliant.
To comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (or PCI DSS) organizations must meet stringent requirements for their software design, network architecture, security management and other measures.
Organizations that do not comply have a higher chance of experiencing a data breach. Below is more information about the history of PCI DSS can help business owners appreciate why it is important.
Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express originally created PCI DDS in the early 2000s to prevent credit card fraud. The major credit card companies originally banded together to develop a higher security standard since they experienced significant financial losses during the mid to late 90s.
This was partially caused by cyber criminals who took advantage of the anonymity of shopping online to commit fraud. Now merchants around the globe that accept credit cards must comply with the security programs.
As online payments became more common, the credit card brands decided to create the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). The council is an independent group that oversees the merchants and organizations that process credit card data.
The PCI Security Standard Council also periodically updates their certification standards. For example, one of their updates was requiring that online stores have a Transport Layer Security replace Secure Sockets Layers as the dominant encryption method for payments online.
We view compliance as a process instead of a one-time goal. After all, just because a company meets the PCI standards once doesn’t mean it will remain compliant permanently.
Besides striving to continuously meet and exceed PCI standards, we are vigilant about preventing data breaches and protecting cardholder’s sensitive financial information.
Do you want to learn more about PCI compliant hosting services?
Please contact us today so you can speak with one of our experienced staff members.
