If you accept credit cards, you’ve probably heard of PCI compliance!
While credit card payments are quick and easy for consumers, they often overlook the intricate system of players and processes behind each purchase.
In a chain, each link represents a potential weak spot through which private information could be compromised. It’s a relief that governments and corporations have rules to follow to keep customers’ data safe.
Credit card machine compliance is more crucial than ever in light of the surge in retail and online fraud. If you run a business, you must know what PCI compliance for credit card processing is.
Understanding the Technology Behind Payment Card Industry Compliance (PCI)
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, “PCI compliance” refers to a company’s assertion that it satisfies all requirements for protecting customer information when handling credit card transactions.
Standards have been established to control and secure information during its transmission through payment channels in light of recent developments in payment technology. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards were developed for this purpose by the five leading credit card companies (PCI DSS).
PCI standards have been implemented to safeguard customers from credit card fraud and other forms of financial crime. But precisely what does it mean to be PCI compliant?
Organizations and vendors can learn about credit card machine compliance and its associated requirements from the rules and regulations, which address the following topics:
- To safely take credit card payments
- Safely keep private information necessary for the transaction
- To safely process the information.
- Communicate the information amongst the various parties in a credit card transaction.
- Protecting customers and organizations from fraud and data breaches is an essential function of the PCI Compliance rules.
Ways to Achieve PCI Compliance
The following are the first things you must do to get PCI compliance:
- Get Your PCI Score
Organizations are divided into four categories according to the number of annual credit card transactions they process. Organizations that do over 6 million transactions annually qualify for Level 1. The second tier includes businesses with annual transaction volumes between 1 and 6 million. Level 3 merchants process between 20,000 and 1,000,000 transactions yearly, whereas Level 4 stores handle less than 20,000 transactions yearly.
- Respond to the Survey
You must complete the PCI DSS Compliance Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) to verify your compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard. You should pick the one corresponding to your Personal Computer Intelligence (PCI) level.
- Do What Needs To Be Done
Once you’ve completed the test, you’ll have a better idea of how to strengthen the safety of your data. Upgrade and/or alter your approach, then retake the survey.
- Collaboration with a Data Tokenization Service
If you keep customers’ credit card details on a server in your office, you could be held responsible for any security breaches that may occur. Find a service that can tokenize your data instead. Tokenizing data is safeguarding sensitive client data in an encrypted online vault. It shifts the onus of damages to the service provider rather than the company itself.
- Fill Out an AOC
After making the necessary adjustments and reviewing the survey, you must submit an Attestation of Compliance (AOC). This action signifies that your company is PCI compliant. After that, a security expert will look into it and confirm or disprove your suspicions.
- Filing
Once an appraiser has approved, you can submit your application to several loan institutions.
