PCI Compliance – a big buzzword plastered everywhere by the PCI Council. The last thing you want as a merchant is to become non-compliant and be fined for it, but there’s been little information made available on exactly what compliance means. In this article we’ll discuss what PCI compliance is all about, how it can affect you, how it’s different between merchants and what actions you can take to protect yourself.
PCI stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It is an independent council formed in 2006 consisting of leaders of major corporations, banks and payment companies across the world. The PCI organization is designed mainly towards protecting the interests of online retailers who deal with online credit card transactions. In the digital age, it has become increasingly important for merchants to protect their customers as well as their own interests from online fraudsters and hackers who are breaking into networks left and right to steal financial data. This is where PCI Compliance comes in – a set of regulations introduced by the Council towards making online retail a safer place for both consumers and merchants.
But why specifically is PCI Compliance needed for online retailers? We all know that we should be using HTTPS instead of HTTP while submitting sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card info, to a website. But this isn’t enough to fully protect our data from being stolen by hackers. In fact, it’s been proven that HTTPS does not fully protect data sent over the network as an ‘evil maid’ can redirect your traffic to a fake site, which also uses HTTPS for secure communication, and still be able to steal your sensitive information. The problem here is that if you’re submitting sensitive information such as credit card info to a website via HTTPS, there’s no way to distinguish the fake evil maid site from an authentic one. The latter uses HTTPS too, so how do you know which one to trust? The answer is through PCI Compliance.
PCI compliance means having a secure website, along with many other security features in place that help protect both the customer and merchant online. Some of these features include a secure (HTTPS) connection, working firewalls and antivirus software. The 7 main principles of PCI Compliance are:
- Build and Maintain a Secure Network – Merchants should not only implement the ideal technologies for security but make sure to maintain them as well.
- Restrict Access to Cardholder Data – Here merchants try to limit access to any cardholder data to just a few selected and trusted employees.
- Protect Cardholder Data – If any form of cardholder data is stored, it should be encrypted with strong cryptography.
- Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program – This simply means that merchants must have systems in place to detect and respond to potential threats such as cyber attacks or malware.
- Implement Strong Access Control Measures – This means using strong usernames, passwords and physical access to the servers.
- Regularly Monitor and Test Networks – Merchants should constantly monitor their networks for any signs of vulnerabilities or anomalies that might indicate a potential cyber attack.
- Maintain an Information Security Policy – The final principle simply involves merchants having a documented information security policy in place at all times.
When you think about it, these principles all sound like common sense and should be considered as a bare minimum for any online retailer. Some might argue that the PCI DSS is just another standard put in place by those who want to make more money out of businesses trying to sell their IT products. That argument does stand to reason at times, but the fact of the matter is that PCI compliance will always be there for both merchants and customers. It’s an industry standard that everyone should try to follow when selling or buying anything online. The council formed in 2006 consisting of leaders of major corporations, banks and payment companies across the world. The PCI organization is designed mainly towards protecting the interests of card holders, issuing banks and other payment systems to ensure that consumer data is safe.
PCI DSS compliance is achieved by first identifying all the different components of your e-commerce website or online retail store. Then you must take the appropriate steps to make sure your site meets each one of the requirements set out by PCI DSS. This can be a daunting task for small business owners that have no knowledge of PCI compliance. But it’s one of those things you must do if you want to conduct e-commerce and accept credit cards online. In this article, we’ll provide a simple guide on how you can achieve PCI Compliance in less than 30 days.
The first thing you need to do is find out more about PCI DSS compliance and what it entails. This can be done by either reading the official documentation of PCI DSS or simply searching Google for further information. The Internet is full of information on the subject and you’ll be able to find some great resources through your favorite search engine. Once you understand all the different components of PCI Compliance, the next step is to make sure your online store meets all these requirements.
