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 The
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements
designed to ensure that ALL companies that process,
store or transmit credit card information maintain a
secure environment. Essentially any merchant that has a Merchant ID (MID).
The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) was launched on
September 7, 2006 to manage the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry
(PCI) security standards with focus on improving payment account security
throughout the transaction process. The PCI DSS is administered and managed by
the PCI SSC (www.pcisecuritystandards.org), an independent body that was created
by the major payment card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover
and JCB.).
It is important to note, the payment brands and acquirers are responsible for
enforcing compliance, not the PCI council.
PCI applies to ALL organizations or merchants, regardless of size or number
of transactions, that accepts, transmits or stores any cardholder data. Said
another way, if any customer of that organization ever pays the merchant
directly using a credit card or debit card, then the PCI DSS requirements apply.
The Standard can be found on the PCI SSC's Website:
https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss.shtml
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