What is PCI Compliance?
PCI Compliance is maintaining adherence to the PCI DSS standard that was developed by major credit card companies as a “guideline to help prevent credit card fraud” ("PCI DSS"). Credit card fraud has taken the spotlight in the past several years due to the massive growth of e-commerce and online transaction processing. With the proliferation of e-businesses, it has become easier than ever to commit fraud over the internet.
Major credit card issuers such as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, and JCB International joined together to create a standard known as PCI DSS or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. In order to process credit card payments merchants and vendors are required to be compliant with the standard based on the Merchant Level of the organization. This standard was created in response to a dramatic rise in credit card data breaches at many high-profile organizations.
This standard defines a set of twelve requirements for compliance. In order to validate a company is in compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard, large organizations are audited by external auditors that are PCI Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs). Smaller companies that process less than 80,000 transactions per year are allowed to perform a self-assessment questionnaire, which determines if the merchant is within compliance.
Who owns the PCI Data Security Standard?
In June of 2005, these five major credit card issues came together and founded the PCI Security Council. The main purpose of the PCI Security Council was to create, own, and manage the PCI Data Security Standard for credit card data. However, the PCI Security Council is not a policing organization and does not enforce PCI...
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...g merchant account is PCI DSS compliant? Is sensitive information being stored? How safe is your data?
Works Cited
"An Introduction to PCI Compliance." PCIComplianceGuide.org. 2008. PCI Compliance Guide.org. 17 Apr 2008 .
McCarthy, Caroline. "T.J. Maxx parent company sued in credit card hack probe." CNET News. 21 Mar 2007. CNETNews.com. 17 Apr 2008 .
"PCI DSS." Wikipedia. 5 Apr 2008. Wikipedia. 5 Apr 2008 .
Vijayan, Jaikumar. "Minnesota becomes first state to make core PCI requirement a law." ComputerWorld.org. 23 May 2007. Computer World.org. 4 Apr 2008 .
...s issue affecting many consumers across the country. With nearly two-thirds of families in the U.S. using credit cards on a regular basis, it is crucial that we find a solution to the problem, whether it lies in the hands of consumers or credit card companies (Clayton 209). It is a complicated issue and it will take effort from both sides to come to a fair conclusion for both parties. However, those debating the issue should be sure to not to misrepresent the facts and that they do not ignore the oppositions valid reasoning simply because it differs from their own.
In addition, “if American Express going to be successful as a brand and as a marketer, they need to understand where consumers are doing it, how consumers are spending their time, where consumers want to access information, and how can American Express engage them. American Express has be used in countries all over the world for decades. It simply grew up with the baby boomers’ generation and has earned its reputation as a card with distinction. Through the years, the company has consistently reached consumer by keeping in step with the changing needs of the population. They also has acknowledge that it is the consumers who really decide what American Express stand for and not the company pushing out marketing messages. Further, American Express belie...
Council, P. S. (2010, 02 5). PCI Security Standards Council. Retrieved 02 05, 2010, from https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/index.shtml
American Express has been known as a commodity to most business travelers. In order to build its customer base, other consumers need to see the card as an indispensable convenience in their lives. American Express offers convenient methods to obtain account information, pay bills, find discounted products, and even make travel plans via the Internet. The Internet site offers these options, as well as other services, such as on- line help and assistance for small businesses. American Express realizes the need for many consumers to save time and money, but to still feel important and respected. The ingenuity and thought put into the services offered on the web site shows that American Express is genuinely concerned with the satisfaction of its customers.
For many years, Target has been hesitant to change credit card security and has shown little to no motivation to make changes. Due to the lack of security measures, hackers were able to steal the identities of many consumers. When credit cards are swiped, the transaction goes through the process of authorization, clearing and settlement. Each phase of the process entails the exchange of transaction data and money that needs to be settled and balanced. This process concludes when the cardholder pays for the goods or services listed on the monthly credit card statement. This is the current system that is used by Target. The company uses a customized version of the Hypercom Optimum L4150 High-Performance Multi-Lane Payment and Advertising Terminal which features a color glass touch screen that offers the brightest and the clearest interface for efficient interactive advertising at the point of sale (POS). “Global payment technology leader Hypercom Corporation delivers a full suite of high security, end-to-end electronic payment products and services” (CARTES & Identification, 2007). The benefits of this device and terminal included an advanced security structure which simplified hardware and application authentication, various privacy options which eliminated the need for add-on physical privacy shields that interfere with terminal usage by the consumer (CARTES &
The usage of credit and debit cards have dramatically increased in the recent years. There was a projected total of 160 million credit card holders in 2012 and 654 million debit cards in 2015 (WalletHub/Nasdaq). Both credit and debit cards are methods of payment that do not require you to have cash on hand. Even though both a credit and debit card accomplish the same thing, there are many differences between the two methods of payment that could sway a customer’s choice towards one over the other.
Around the holidays, most consider shopping via Internet the most safe and convent way to go. You never leave the house, so there is no need to worry about those thieves running the streets snatching bags and picking pockets. But, shopping online holds risks just as great as shopping in the stores. The Internet may say your information is safe and will not be shared with anyone else, but who really knows? Very rarely people find out their victims of credit card fraud before too much damage has been done.
As a detection process, United States Federal Trade Commission, clarity that credit card fraud for identity theft was steady in 2008, but in the past few years 21 percent increased. Nevertheless, the commission added that credit card fraud is a kind of crime which people count it as an “ID theft”. Though, credit card fraud is restricted in every transaction which takes place, but in huge transaction credits card fraud happen. Indeed, the fraud in credit card transaction has been limited to 0.1 percent. In 1999 the 12 billion transactions which was made yearly, around 10 million or ...
Eversley, Melanie, Hjelmgaard, Kim. “Target Confirms Massive Credit Card Data Breach.” USA Today, 19 December 2013. Web. 19 December 2013.
Control targets and necessities of PCI DSS . This is a standard security alliance, strategies, development schemas that show diagram, as opposed to the partition of programming, align and different measures to get the cover together .
The world of business is full of different regulatory and legal requirements. In order to fulfil the responsibilities, companies must create a program of comprehensive compliance.
The use of credit and debit cards today are taking a tour in the sense that electronic cash is becoming more admissible as the world makes a switch towar...
In the world today, when the average American is standing at the cash register, ready to pay, he or she will likely pull out of their wallet one of the following: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or a Discover Card. What do all of theses names have in common? They are all credit cards, the easy, fast way to pay for purchases when you don’t have cash, the store doesn’t accept checks, you would rather pay at a later date, or a variety of other reasons. Although there are many positive reasons to have a credit card, carrying this small plastic card can also cause many problems if one isn’t prudent and logical when making purchases. When deciding whether to sign up for a credit card or not, one must consider the advantages and disadvantages of having one; it can be resourceful in emergencies, it is safer than carrying large amounts of cash, and it is an effective way of borrowing money for a period of time. On the other hand, there are many disadvantages: if purchases aren’t paid for in a timely manner, the credit card holder will have to pay interest, or if they don’t pay it negatively affects their credit score, as well as creates unwanted debt. Overall, having a credit card is an important and serious decision that must be weighed carefully, because there are many pitfalls to look out for, but with smart choices and good decision making skills a credit card can be a very useful financial tool.
As established by PCI DSS, our company needs to include different aspects to securely handle and store credit cards information. From the perspective of the Information Security Analyst we must to consider the following points:
Accuracy: The information given in the service standards need to be accurate without misleading customers.