December 16, 2014

PCI (Payment Card Industry) security standards are a set of guidelines aimed towards protecting the personal information as well as confirming security at the time of online transactions using a credit or debit card. If you are in an online retail business you might be involved in financial transactions over the internet. Such dealings are susceptible to a lot of malicious attacks posing a threat for penalties, lost revenue and even credit card breaches.

Whether you have a small or large web store, being PCI compliant is necessary to ensure security for customer related information while processing payments or while handling their data. An autonomous body named PCI Security Standard Council (PCI SSC) was created by the leading credit card brands MasterCard, Visa, JCB, Discover and American Express to administer and manage the PCI DSS (Data Security Standards).

How to be PCI compliant?

There are 5 standards that must be met for a web store to be PCI compliant:

  • Maintain Secure Network: Businesses must ensure that the systems used to store customer data is protected with a firewall. Also, reasonable measures should be taken to safeguard the network to which the servers are connected.
  • Protect Cardholder Data: The personal data of the cardholder should not be accessible to everyone. The credit card numbers must be stored in an encrypted form so that even if someone breaches the database, he would not be able to decode the information.
  • Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program: Keeping your server software, hardware and operating systems updated is another important measure to be compliant with PCI standards.
  • Implement Strict Access Control: Web store owners must assign a unique identification number to each person who has access to the cardholder data. This access should also be provided only to a limited number of employees who need to use it.
  • Regularly Test Networks: The network security processes and measures should be regularly scanned, tracked and monitored to detect any potential security issues. Issues detected should be fixed on priority.

Benefits of Being PCI Compliant:

  • Merchants can protect themselves against heavy fines by preventing data breach.
  • PCI compliant web stores are trusted by the customers. Thus, it helps to increase their business.
  • Being PCI Complaint helps to protect the reputation and credibility of an online retailer.
  • PCI compliance can help online businesses become more secure by decreasing vulnerability to network attacks.
  • Keeping the above benefits in mind, it is important that the web stores should make sure they comply with the security standards of PCI.

We at Centex Technologies provide complete security solution to our clients. For more information, call us at – (855) 375-9654