Vital Security Information For Your Business

In response to the new challenges of accepting credit cards, the major card brands (including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover) established a committee to create standards and best practices geared to assist your business in maintaining the safety of your customers information. When you follow these Data Security Standards (DSS), you will reduce your risks as a merchant drastically. 

Merchant Responsibilities include:

• Build and Maintain a Secure Network
  
• Protect Cardholder Data
  
• Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
  
• Implement Strong Access Control Measures
  
• Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
  
• Maintain an Information Security Policy
  

Do I need to become PCI Compliant?

The last two decades have brought about drastic change in the way merchants need to do business in order to stay competitive. A large number of your customers now use credit cards as a major form of payment. These changes are not without their challenges. Since January 2005, approximately 234 million records have been breached from retailers according to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (www.privacyrights.org). It is now the retailers’ responsibility to protect the card holder data from theft. Consider this process a cost of doing businesses that you cannot do without.

Your customers will expect that your business is applying every means necessary to keep their information safe.

Where are you vulnerable? 

• Point of Sale Systems
  
• Personal Computer Systems
  
• Networks
  
• Consumer Facing Internet Stores
  
• Wireless Hot Spots