E-commerce Solutions > Retail E-commerce Solutions > PCI DSS Compliance

PCI Data Security Standard (DSS)

What Is PCI DSS and Why Is It Important?

PCI DSS is a world-wide set of security standards that all retailers must meet if they accept payment by debit/credit card, regardless of the size of their organisation or the value of transactions they process. These measures are designed to protect consumers and businesses against fraud and theft of sensitive data, and like it or not, they’re here to stay.

Failing to meet these standards carries the very real risk for retailers of either:

Fines in excess of £100,000 from card organisations (such as VISA, American Express and MasterCard) if fraud is carried out and retailers are deemed responsible, or...
Card schemes revoking the ability to process their cards through your site

In short, no retailer can afford to conduct business online without being PCI DSS compliant.

How Can I Become PCI DSS Compliant?

To become PCI DSS compliant, retailers can complete a self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) and have it approved by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). However, this is not always desirable or convenient for independent retailers; your focus is simply on increasing your sales and running a profitable business.

That’s why we’re making the process for your online systems as simple as possible.

We manage the process on your behalf, producing a quarterly report and helping to put its recommendations into practice. After each scan, you will receive a PCI DSS Compliance Certificate for the server(s) on which your web-site is hosted (this can be presented to your bank to confirm that you have met requirement 11 of the PCI DSS standard). We also provide consultancy advice on how to keep your offline operations compliant too.

Finally, we recognize the Internet moves fast, and security standards will change, so to ensure your security systems are always up to date, we will continue to conduct our scans on a quarterly basis. This will leave you and your customers free to complete day-to-day transactions with peace of mind and confidence each and every time.