The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure that ALL companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard for organizations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes.

The PCI Standard is mandated by the card brands but administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud.

• Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) — smaller volumes

• external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) — moderate volumes; involves an Attestation on Compliance (AOC)

• firm-specific Internal Security Assessor (ISA) — larger volumes; involves issuing a Report on Compliance (ROC)

There are a number of types of payment cards, the most common being credit cards, debit cards, charge cards, and prepaid cards. Most commonly, a payment card is electronically linked to an account or accounts belonging to the cardholder. These accounts may be deposit accounts or loan or credit accounts, and the card is a means of authenticating the cardholder. However, stored-value cards store money on the card itself and are not necessarily linked to an account at a financial institution.

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