What is PCI Compliance and Why is it Required?

PCI Compliance is a relatively new way to ensure that all transactions are being protected by a secure protocol. It is defined as a set of requirements designed to ensure that any merchant that processes, stores, or transmits credit card data maintains a secure environment. It applies to any organization regardless of size or number of transactions.

So why do we all need to be PCI Compliant?

Remember the recent hacks into some large corporations that led to the release of sensitive credit card holder data? Ya. We do too. It was a nightmare for the merchants involved. Or at least we can only imagine. These huge corporations, as large as they are, did not follow PCI Compliance standards. If they had gone through the necessary measures to become fully compliant, their valuable customers could have had their credit card information remain safe.

So what are the requirements in becoming PCI Compliant?