Why Do Payment Solutions Need Compliance Certificates?

With online payments becoming the preferred mode of transactions to purchase products, pay utility bills or any other payment purpose, it has become imperative to make sure that the user information remains safe and secured. Businesses now need a secure payment infrastructure that follows all the compliance standards to safeguard critical information and sensitive data. This is why understanding payment compliance is of significant importance.

Payment compliance refers to any company or organization that accepts, transmits, or stores the private data of cardholders, and is compliant with the various security measures outlined by the PCI Security Standard Council to ensure that customers’ card details and payment information do not get compromised. PCI DSS certification gives businesses an edge in terms of security and minimises the risk of cyberattacks.

Payment compliance plays a vital role in making digital payments a lot safer. It proves effective in strengthening the trust of customers and building the credibility of your platform. Cardholders won’t hesitate to initiate payments once you guarantee maximum security and leave no scope for data frauds. The requirements put forth by the PCI DSS are both operational and technical, and the core focus of these rules is always to protect cardholder data.

The 12 requirements of PCI DSS are:

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.
3. Protect stored cardholder data.
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.
5. Use and regularly update anti-virus software or programs.
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.
7. Restrict access to cardholder data on a need-to-know basis.
8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.
11. Regularly test security systems and processes.
12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security for all personnel.

Partnering with a PCI DSS compliant organisation like Ingenico which is powered by regular third-party audits and a dedicated global internal security team will always make sure that your data is safe and secure.

**Source – PCI DSS manual.