What Is PCI Compliance?

PCI compliance is one of the most important ongoing projects in any organization which is involved with credit card data, but what does it mean? The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)  is a set of 12 technical and operational requirements set by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) to protect credit card data. All organizations (or entities) that process, store and/or transmit credit card data have to comply with these standards.

PCI compliance is proven through auditing an organization’s cardholder data environment (CDE), which is any network where the storage, processing and transmitting of cardholder data may occur. How an entity is audited is dependent on which of the 4 merchant levels an organization is. Large organizations will need to employ the services of an independent Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) to validate their compliance, while smaller organizations will need to complete one or more Self Assessment Questionnaires (SAQs). Amongst other factors, depending on how you accept, process and store credit card data will determine which SAQ will need to be completed.

With all this considered, it’s little wonder that the number of organizations maintaining PCI compliance has been on the decline.

Our mission at PCI Pal is to safeguard reputation and trust. We do this by providing organizations and contact centres with secure payment solutions such as PCI Pal Agent Assist and PCI Pal Digital organizations can accept secure payments any time, anywhere. Built around your contact centre and processes, our solutions allow your customer service operation to remain the same while reducing the scope from the requirements of the PCI DSS.

If you have any questions or would like to see how our solutions can help you – book a product demonstration now Book a demo – PCI Pal and we will be happy to assist you.