A Beginner’s Guide to PCI Compliance

PCI DSS, or the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, is the set of regulatory requirements all organizations who process card payments must adhere to. Sounds simple enough, right? But PCI compliance can pose a major challenge to organizations if they’re not equipped with the proper knowledge and tools.

Let’s take a quick look at the basics of PCI compliance, what the actual requirements consist of and methods organizations can use to both pass their PCI audits and maintain a strong cybersecurity posture. After all, the point of PCI isn’t to tick a checkbox that says you’re compliant—it’s to protect cardholder data from malicious actors.

What Is PCI Compliance?

When the credit card industry moved into the digital space, it quickly realized the need to protect itself from digital fraud. Merchants and those responsible for handling the data needed to protect it in the same way they would protect physical currency.

Then, like now, there was a lack of cybersecurity expertise; credit card handlers knew they had to protect the data, but they didn’t necessarily know how. The major credit card companies had a vested interest in helping companies protect the data, and so each developed their own security standards.

At first, credit card companies came up with their own internal information security programs. The introduction of a centralized regulatory requirement helped unite these disparate programs under one umbrella. Version 1.0 was first introduced in 2004.

Its current iteration, 3.2.1, was released in 2018. The PCI Security Standards Council, founded in 2006, is now a global organization with far-reaching say on how business is done in the digital age. In addition to helping cardholders’ data stay in the right hands, PCI also helps card issuers and banks limit their liability in the event a merchant suffers (Read more...)