Facts About PCI Compliance
Because identity theft and data security are so important today, security is critical for all businesses that accept electronic payments.
Customers and businesses using electronic forms of payment expect their cardholder data to be stored securely and privately. As a leading
provider of merchant services, WDS can provide you with critical information regarding identity theft and data security technology and programs.
The Card Associations (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa) embrace a single standard, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
(PCI DSS), to ensure the protection of cardholder data. All businesses accepting credit/debit cards are required to comply with the PCI DSS.
By knowing the facts about PCI compliance in advance, you can better equip your business to meet the required standards.
Details are available at the PCI Security Standards website.
PCI DSS Summary
- Build and maintain a secure network
- Protect cardholder data
- Maintain a vulnerability management program
- Implement strong access control measures
- Monitor and test regularly
Compliance with PCI DSS helps reduce your exposure to fraud losses that can result from the theft of cardholder data. It also
increases consumer confidence, which could result in higher sales for your business.
PCI Compliance Steps
Requirements differ based upon the number of transactions processed by a business and your credit card processing environment.
Transaction Level Details
Depending on your POS environment, you may need to complete a Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and have mandatory quarterly
network scans. The SAQ contains multiple choice questions designed to understand your card acceptance and processing environment.
The quarterly network scans identify those external facing IPs that are not secure through vulnerability testing. Unsecured systems
could provide an opportunity for hackers to steal valuable cardholder data, leading to a data compromise or security breach.
World Data Systems also works with you to complete or review your PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).
Data contained on this page is for informational purposes and is based on the latest information available to us. WDS cannot and
does not endorse nor warrant completeness or accuracy of data provided by other websites.