PCI Compliance
Because identity theft and data security are so important today, security is critical for all businesses that accept electronic payments. Customers and businesses using electronic forms of payment expect their cardholder data to be stored securely and privately. As a leading provider of merchant services, NPC can provide you with critical information regarding identity theft and data security technology and programs.
The Card Associations (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa) embrace a single standard, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), to ensure the protection of cardholder data. All businesses accepting credit/debit cards are required to comply with the PCI DSS. By knowing the facts about PCI compliance in advance, you can better equip your business to meet the required standards.
PCI Compliance Steps
Requirements differ based upon the number of transactions processed by a business and your credit card processing environment. PPS will send you the appropriate SAQ to complete.
This is an ANNUAL compliance.
Depending on your POS environment, you may need to complete a Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and have mandatory quarterly network scans.
The SAQ contains multiple choice questions designed to understand your card acceptance and processing environment. The quarterly network scans identify those external facing IPs that are not secure through vulnerability testing. Unsecured systems could provide an opportunity for hackers to steal valuable cardholder data, leading to a data compromise or security breach.
