QaiWare is PCI DSS Certified. This is important for us as well as for our customers. That is why we decided to shed light on what PCI stands for, the variety of PCI certificates and their functionality for all payment related businesses.
Cybersecurity is an area that is highly sensitive to financial institutions and businesses operating with customer data.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard for organizations that handle credit cards from the major card schemes.
The PCI Standard is mandated by the card brands and administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud.
Having said that, we can now consider the different types of basic security information standards:
- The PCI PTS for ATM and POS terminals, which ensures transaction security and is mainly targeted at manufacturers of such devices;
- The PCI PA-DSS standard, the object of which is application security-for example, where applications store passwords and how to encrypt them;
- The PCI DSS standard, which focuses on infrastructure and incorporates the first two standards. PCI DSS is applicable to all organizations that collect, process, or transmit card data. It covers technical and operating system components such as servers, applications, network devices, and locations.
The idea of PCI DSS is to protect the entire card data flow. The standard is in practice focused on both the merchant and the institutions that process and collect the card data.
Now that we covered some of the basics on what PCI is, we can also list some of the benefits of becoming PCI certified.
- One of the main benefits of PCI DSS certification is the minimized risk of a hacker attack.Once certified, it does not mean that the certificate is forever. Organizations are subject to an annual audit. If necessary, corrections are made, and the certificate is validated again. The certifying authority makes monthly scans for vulnerabilities. Even if they do not detect some, at least once a year, an internal and external penetration test is performed by a certified company.
- Another important benefit of PCI DSS certification is the increased level of information security. This means a reduced risk of hacker attacks, and if this happens, the damage is more segmented.
- Last but not least, implementing the standard helps you become much more trustworthy in the eyes of your customers and business partners.
