What is PCI compliance?

Payment card industry, or (PCI) compliance, refers to a set of technical and operational standards that businesses follow to secure and protect credit card data provided by cardholders and transmitted through card processing transactions.

What is PCI DSS compliance?

For a company to become PCI compliant, it has to follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) set by the PCI Security Standards Council.

PCI Security Standards Council dictates specific terms and conditions to credit card companies to combat privacy breaches and secure credit card information.

PCI DSS has six major objectives, 12 key requirements, 78 base requirements, and over 400 test procedures.

Let’s take a look at the six major requirements.

Building and maintaining secure networks and systems.
Protecting cardholder data.
Maintaining a vulnerability management program.
Implementing strong access control measures.
Regular monitoring and testing of networks.
Maintaining an information security policy.

PCI DSS is updated every few years to encompass the latest security threats. Every PCI compliant call center is required to provide compliance reports on a regular basis as part of its card processing agreements.

Hence, monitoring, assessments, and audits of PCI information are an integral part of any contact center’s compliance department.

What challenges arise from PCI non-compliance?

Any data breach can lead to significant losses in sales, relationships, brand, and community standings.
A company’s reputation is majorly hit if it’s non-compliant to PCI standards.
PCI non-compliant companies incur government fines and constantly deal with expensive lawsuits, insurance claims, canceled accounts, and payment card issuer fines.