Payment Card Industry

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Payment Card Industry shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Payment Card Industry offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Payment Card Industry at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Payment Card Industry? Wrong! If the Payment Card Industry is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Payment Card Industry then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Payment Card Industry? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Payment Card Industry and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Payment Card Industry wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Payment Card Industry then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Payment Card Industry site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Payment Card Industry, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Payment Card Industry, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) is used as a general term which collectively defines the debit, credit, pre-paid, e-purse, ATM, POS, and the overall payment card industry.

More specifically, PCI is used to refer to the PCI Security Standards Council, an independent council originally formed by American Express, Discover Card, Japan Credit Bureau, MasterCard andVISA on Sept. 7, 2006, with the goal of managing the ongoing evolution of the PCI DSS.

The Payment Card Industry Standard The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS 1.1) is a worldwide data security standard that applies to any organisations which store, transmit or process cardholder data.

PCI originally began as four different programs: Visa's Card Information Security Program, MasterCard's Site Data Protection, American Express's Data Security Operating Policy, and Discover's Information and Compliance. Each company's intentions were roughly very similar: to create an additional level of protection for their customers by ensuring that merchants meet minimum levels of data security. On the 15th of December 2004, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover aligned their individual policies and created PCI DSS.

PCI DSS Version 1 can be roughly summarised into twelve requirements. To comply, merchants must:

Install and maintain a firewall

Not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters

Protect stored data

Encrypt transmission of cardholder data and sensitive information across public networks.

Use and regularly update anti-virus software

Develop and maintain secure systems and applications

Restrict access to data by business need-to-know

Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access

Restrict physical access to cardholder data

Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data

Regularly test security systems and processes

Maintain a policy that addresses information security.

International Payment Schemes Visa International Visa is a private, membership association jointly owned by more than 20,000 member financial institutions around the world.

Regional and National Payment Schemes Interac Association The Interac Association is Canada's national organization linking Financial Institutions and enterprises that have proprietary networks to enable communication with each other for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. The Association was founded in 1984 by the big five banks. Today there are over 80 members. The Interac Association is the organization responsible for the development of Canada's national network of two shared electronic financial services: Shared Cash Dispensing (SCD) for cash withdrawals from any ABM not belonging to a cardholder's financial institution; and Interac Direct Payment (IDP) for Debit Card payments at the Point-of-Sale

PCI Compliance and Wireless LANs The PCI DSS recognizes wireless LANs as public networks and therefore provides three specific security guidelines to prevent breaches coming in from wireless networks used in retail environments. They are:

Firewall segmentation between wireless networks and the POS (point-of-sale) networks
Use of wireless analyzers (a.k.a. Wireless Intrusion Detection) to detect any unauthorized wireless devices and attacks
Encryption on the wireless link if credit card data is being transmitted over the air e.g. wireless POS or mobile POS applications

List of EMV documents and standards

EMV Book 1, 2, 3, 4 : The official standard documents that define all the components in an EMV payment system.

External links Payment Card Industry

PCI Security Standards, the organisation responsible the development, enhancement, storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards for account data protection.
European Payment Council, The European Payments Council (EPC) is the decision-making and coordination body of the European banking industry in relation to payments.
PCI Answers Blog and Forum Different PCI experts demystifying the experience of compliance

EMV

EMVCo, the organisation responsible for developing and maintaining the EMV standard
Chip and PIN, site run by the Association For Payment Clearing Services (APACS), the UK's central co-ordinating authority for the implementation of EMV
Migration 2 Chip, The Migration 2 Chip Program