Credit card industry forms group to advise on new data security guidelines
Fraud costs sector $500 million per year; group to help merchants comply with key storage, firewall, and antivirus requirements; implementation of rules behind schedule
Stop, thief! Credit card fraud is now so widespread that it requires community policing. Even those whose credit cards remain secure are victims because providers raise fees in order to recoup losses estimated as high as $500 million per year, or approximately $5 per customer. Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security guidelines that require merchants to have the security of their key storage and credit card transaction processes to be audited are being currently being phased in, but the going is slow.
The newly-formed Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, a cooperative venture of American Express, Morgan Stanley’s Discover Financial Services, JCB Co of Japan, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa International, will attempt to make the process easier. According to a press release, “merchants are required at a minimum to install and maintain a firewall, encrypt the transmission of data across public networks, use and regularly update antivirus software, assign a unique ID to each person with computer access, and regularly test and monitor access to network resources and cardholder data.”
-read more in this Computer Business report
