PCI Compliance – What it is and why it’s important
Posted by Alex Neir on Fri, Jul 08, 2011 @ 01:24 PM
PCI Compliance – What it is and why it’s important
What is PCI compliance?
PCI compliance boils down to compliance with a set of rules defined as the PCI DSS or Payment Card Industries Data Security Standard. The PCI Security Standard has been established by the major credit card associations as guidelines for the collection of credit card information. These guidelines have been established to prevent fraud and to minimize credit card security threats.
In order to achieve PCI compliance a business must have dedicated policies and procedures in place that define how credit card holder information is collected, transmitted and stored. If a technical system is used to collect credit card holder information, the system must demonstrate encrypted transmission and storage.
Why is PCI Compliance important?
Let’s face it, as credit card carrying consumers we all have sensitive data about ourselves collected transmitted and stored many times every day. With all that information being collected by so many individuals, businesses and charities it is very important that information is protected. As identity theft continues to grow the tolerance for mismanagement of credit card holder information is disappearing. The major credit card association have begun to institute large monetary fines for businesses that are found to have compromised credit card information.
Get compliant by selecting a vendor that manages your PCI compliance for you. Maxx Merchants is 100% PCI compliant.
