First, what is PCI Compliance? PCI Compliance is the Payment Card Industry's security standards for organizations that handle credit cards. Our job at POS Nation is to educate our customer about PCI Compliance to ensure that they maintain security while handling credit cards.
Why should you care? Penalties for noncompliance can range from $5,000 to $100,000 per month of noncompliance. Needless to say, these fines are crippling to small businesses.
PCI Compliance begins with your POS system. Maintaining up-to-date POS equipment and POS software is only the first step. Actively maintaining a secure network and following best practices is a necessity as well. We’ve listed below 12 requirements for maintaining PCI Compliance provided to us by:
BUILD AND MAINTAIN A SECURE NETWORK
•Requirement 1: Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
•Requirement 2: Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
PROTECT CARDHOLDER DATA
•Requirement 3: Protect stored cardholder data
•Requirement 4: Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks
MAINTAIN A VULNERABILITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
•Requirement 5: Use and regularly update anti-virus software
•Requirement 6: Develop and maintain secure systems and applications
IMPLEMENT STRONG ACCESS CONTROL MEASURES
•Requirement 7: Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
•Requirement 8: Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
•Requirement 9: Restrict physical access to cardholder data
REGULARLY MONITOR AND TEST NETWORKS
•Requirement 10: Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
•Requirement 11: Regularly test security systems and processes
MAINTAIN AN INFORMATION SECURITY POLICY
•Requirement 12: Maintain a policy that addresses information security
