In an attempt to raise the baseline security practices of online merchants and payment processing firms, card payment companies joined forces to create the Payment Card Industry data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
The result of collaboration between visa and MasterCard – the PCI standard has the support of other card companies including American Express, Discover, JCB and Diners Club, and affects every company that deals with card payment transactions.
What are the current PCI DSS compliance deadlines?
The deadlines for compliance are set by the individual card schemes (Visa and MasterCard). The core deadlines were:
- Level 2 – 31st March 2010
- Level 3 – 31st March 2010
- Level 4 – 31st March 2010 (e-com only)
Level 1 merchants will have large and complex systems to secure, potentially multi-national and across a number of payment channels. It is expected merchants have plans in place to lead to full compliance with PCI DSS.