What’s PCI?

Payment Card Industry (PCI) is a set of standards created to ensure that when businesses take credit card payments online, they do it in a secure manner and minimize the risk of credit card theft. The PCI Council creates the rules (there are 150 of them) which dictate everything from firewall configuration to security protection on devices used to store, process, or transmit credit card data. The onus is on the business to ensure you are following the guidelines and to periodically (typically at least annually) conduct a self-assessment against the requirements to make sure you’re still compliant. Failure to follow the PCI guidelines can result in fines and can also result in your business not being able to take credit card payments.