PCI Compliance Analysis

If you have ever bought something over the internet and used a credit card you may not have thought how secure is my information? Is this vendor someone I can trust with my credit card number? Will they inform me if my information is lost or stolen by them? These questions and many more can be answered by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS compliance requirements are strictly enforced by the payment card brands to all merchants who transmit, store, or process credit card information. The main goals or objectives of PCI DSS are: build and maintain a secure network that is PCI compliant; protect cardholder data; maintain a vulnerability management program; implement strong access control measures; regularly

U.S. consumers remain addicted to credit. Consumer debt continues to rise to record levels and a significant number of households have lost control of their finances. Credit cards can be a useful financial tool when used appropriately. However, research clearly indicates that consumers are not using credit cards wisely and consumers do not understand the terms and conditions of the credit card contract. Adding to this public dilemma, the practices of numerous credit card issuers have been described as predatory. The Credit CARD Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, also known as the Credit CARD Act of 2009, is the first major reform of the credit card industry since the Truth in Lending Act of 1968. The Credit CARD Act of

In a highly competitive market space, being compliant with PCI standards will make our organization more acceptable in the market, and also help build trust and confidence in our operation among healthcare providers seeking our services. In a constantly evolving threat environment with increased levels of data breaches in recent times, ensuring PCI compliance even though not mandated will help attract customers and would be good return on investment. Along with BAA signed with our clients, being PCI compliant would also ensure extra layer of protection by following the practices suggested by leading payment card brands like Visa, Mastercard, etc. who are constantly looking out for new emerging threats in the industry, and are proactive in incorporating changes to PCI DSS standards to minimize the impact of these new threats. Though complying with standards like PCI doesn’t ensure security, they provide a structure around which organizations can build their information security and assurance program, thereby helping them anticipate and mitigate new risks in the area of storing payment card

The major credit card companies formed the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. This council was created to combat lack of security, hackers, and misuse of cardholder information. The council

A single data breach can severely impact a company’s reputation as well as their ability to conduct business in the future. For merchants that process, store and transmit credit card information, PCI DSS has never been more important.

In response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the United States government was charged with reforming many financial systems. One area of concern was credit cards. Namely, many Americans faced financial troubles with credit debt and other credit card related issues. In 2009, Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Credit CARD Act). The goal of the Credit CARD Act was to protect consumers from dubious credit card issuers. The legislation enacted intends to make the credit card system more transparent and supervised in addition to certain consumer protections. The Credit CARD Act was a major shift in the way credit card issuers were allowed to operate, and most—if not all—credit card issuing

Card information was stolen by hackers and sold to others. Result in customer loss their money.

Any discrepancies are required to be sorted before final authorization. This feature of P-Cards shifts partial responsibility from account payable to card users and promotes cost savings for the university. However, the process requires a successful ecommerce platform that can integrate with the financial record planning system of the university and record each transaction to simplify the reconciliation process. UVic currently uses BMO internal solution to capture the transaction information but doesn’t provide much support in terms of cross verification and reconciliation. This explains the second important problem that is required to be addressed for an effective and successful commercial card payment

Cyber criminals continue to discover new ways to access a person's identity. This is true not only for their credit cards and bank accounts, but also for ID cards used at work. This tends to be of great concern to businesses, as they don't wish to share proprietary

called as PCI-DSS is that the standard is made to help the controls of the card holder information also, its chiefly done to the turn away the credit card misinterpretation by exposure. The PCI-DSS

Payment card industries must follow step-by-step instructions in order to have transactions accepted. So why do these demanding standards work?

All account data is managed through the use of a credit card processing platform, and the current credit card vendor used a more expensive platform than one that we could obtain. The decision was made to migrate all account data to a new processing system, and I managed that transition through requirement gathering stage, to implementation, and quality assurance audits. This transition was completed with a great sense of urgency, as it was important that we not impact the servicing in anyway, and start realizing the improved operational cost savings.

The biggest risk of data theft lies within a company 's customers. When security breaches happen, the customer begins to question if Sunoco has looked out for their personal information and overall trust becomes an issue. Whenever someone purchases with a credit card, the customer is putting their trust in Sunoco that the information will not fall into the wrong hands. If Sunoco does not handle the situation quickly and efficiently after it occurrs, panic ensues by current and potential customers. Credit cards are a huge portion of sales today. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, “plastic cards purchases comprised 66 percent of all in-person sales, with nearly half of them, or 31 percent, made with debit cards. Last year shoppers used credit cards for 29 percent of point-of-sale purchases; it is expected that the numbers will rise to 33 percent by 2017” (New, 2012, para. 5). That leaves potential for a significant loss in sales and annual earnings. With the increase of credit and debt card usage, Sunoco needs to take the necessary action to ensure that data theft does not occur again for their customers.

The Payment Card industry Data Security Standard applies to companies that use, store and transmit protected financial information. Companies bear responsibility for compliance, but many of the company 's payment processors offer compliance tools for businesses they serve. It 's essential that companies implement PCI standards. Developing a plan for physical and digital security protocols is essential if companies want to avoid fines, penalties, customer lawsuits and even cancellations of their payment processing privileges due to security breaches caused by noncompliance.

Large companies have been in the news in the past years due to data breaches. Companies such as Target, Home Depot, and TJX brands have brought credit card fraud under scrutiny. How safe are consumers shopping during this day and age? The Economist (2014) has found that since the year 2003, the United States is responsible for 25% of the global market of financial card payments. At the same time the U.S. is also responsible for 50% of the world’s loss due to fraud. Between 2004 and 2010, signature based cards accounted for 91% of