This means that companies will need to take extra steps to protect the privacy of their customers before they can even think about performing credit card transactions. Some of these steps may involve things as simple as keeping their employees in check, to things that are as complicated as routers and system security.
One thing that companies can do to deploy PCI DSS compliance is upgrading to better firewalls. Firewalls are essential in protecting data, and the companies need to have the best firewall software and have the firewalls configured in such a way that they will be completely secure and now allow anyone from the outside to break in.
The system that the company uses needs to be up to date and able to handle the firewall software that is in place. If it cannot handle it, then the software really won't do very well. It is very important that customer information is protected. If your information were inside a computer system, wouldn't you want it to be as safe as possible?
The information needs to be just as safe going in as it does going out, so according to PCI DSS Compliance the information of the customer needs to be encrypted as it leaves the system and goes out onto the public networks. This is when the information is most vulnerable, and needs to be protected the most.
If you own a small business you might find that this is a little bit inconvenient; and it probably is, considering it can take many months to deploy a good PCI DSS Compliance system, and may cost as much as $40,000. This is why many small businesses do not accept credit cards, and fortunately there is a bit of a fix for this!
You can hire a third party to keep track of all of the information and make sure that the things going out of your system are completely secure. One could think of it as a third party firewall and in truth there are a lot of businesses that set up deals like this to avoid paying the costs of the hardware to run such a complicated system.
It may cost you more money in the long run however, so this is something that you will have to think hard about before you actually invest in it.
All this may seem to be quite a hassle, but remember that people's security is nothing to toy with. You have to make sure that everything is in order, and protect the security of your customers like you would your own. PCI DSS Compliance is nothing to fool around with either, so make sure that you get your systems working so that you can ensure the safety and well being of everyone who are involved with your store.
