Why PCI Compliance Is Important
Any business that takes credit cards as a main form of payment is well aware about the importance of PCI compliance. Protecting a cardholder’s information should be at the top of any eatery’s security concern, as any data breaches can be incredibly damaging to daily operations and the fallout from a brand having a breach is big news today. PCI Compliance is required for every business that takes credit cards, but many don’t know exactly what compliance entails. Continue reading for more information on PCI compliance and why it’s absolutely necessary for your business.
What Is PCI Compliance?
PCI DSS stands for “Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard” and it’s referred to as a set of rules relating to payment security standards to establishments that sell products to securely accept, store, and transmit cardholder data. Every business is required to comply with PCI, and any that don’t can incur heavy fines.
Requirements toward Compliance
The PCI Data has 12 requirements, categorized into six objectives:
- Building and maintaining a secure network
- Protect cardholder data
- Network Tests and Monitoring
- Strong access control measures
- Vulnerability Management
- Information Security Policy
To maintain compliance and validate that compliance, your restaurant must establish verifiably secure methods of processing, storing, and transmitting cardholder information. This can be done through more secure restaurant POS systems, firewalls, and limiting employee access to data using encrypted systems and unique employee IDs.
Why Assistance Is Needed
Your restaurant’s QSA (Qualified Security Assessor) auditor needs to work closely on-site with an IT company to determine just where you stand with PCI compliance and compile ROC (Report on Compliance) documents, answering any questions asked. They can help remediate vulnerabilities by:
- External scanning (looks for holes in your network’s firewalls)
- Internal scanning (Windows and third-party application updates and patching)
- Authentication within the PCI environment including account lock, password expiration, password complexity
- Network segmentation, removing cardholder data from payments terminals and processing systems
The most important benefit of professional assistance is the design and implementation of a PCI compliant network. A restaurant POS system will always be vulnerable to attacks, so it’s important you take the measures to ensure your customers’ financial information is secure. Let OnsiteRIS help you with an examination of your current set up and develop a plan to reduce risk of breach.
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