PCI DSS

Recent statistics have shown that 42% of consumers feel that credit cards are the safest payment option to protect cardholder data for their online purchases. With more consumers focusing on purchasing online rather than via brick and mortar retailers, this means that online retailers must take extra care in monitoring their network resources as they pertain to their cardholder data. Consumers are well within their entitlement to expect that their credit card transaction is secure once it has been processed. However, that expectation might fall short if the pathways that the payment company develops does not securely transmit their cardholder data once the transaction goes through. It is for this reason (and many others) that securing access to network resources for any organization that processes and/or stores credit card payments is critical.

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) is a coalition of credit card companies including American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa that is built on the backbone of 12 requirements specified in the PCI Data Security Standards (DSS). These requirements were implemented to ensure the continued financial safety of businesses and consumers alike. The number and severity of data breaches constantly on the rise and the PCI DSS requirements are there to provide organizations with the compliance framework they need to maintain a high level of network security.

Consistently testing and quickly addressing risks to your network security system is not just one of the common security controls that can be looked over, it is imperative to effective and safe performance. If your companys security system does not receive the necessary updates to its infrastructure, it can be potentially devastating for your organization.

Not being on top of these essential tasks can open the door to a myriad of cyber security threats from internal and external sources that could take years to recover from. However your business plans to approach security system testing, you should make sure you efforts fall in line with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements.

Were not even midway through 2018, and this year has already seen some of the most high profile companies and brands become victims to potentially malicious cyber attacks. Delta Airlines, Sears, and Panera Bread are just a few examples of high-profile companies that have had to contend with data breach and unauthorized access by outsiders so far this year.

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) is a coalition of credit card companies including American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Non-compliance with the 12 requirements specified in the PCI Data Security Standards (DSS) puts your company at greater risk of a future data breach that comes with a steep financial cost as evidenced by the plethora of well publicized data breaches last year alone. Of the 12 PCI DSS requirements, it was found that 79% of failed PCI Compliance assessments were in non-compliance because of not being able to protect cardholder data via requirement 3. Thats huge.