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Updated by 11.20.2023

Preventing Top PCI Compliance Issues

Top PCI Compliance Issues

An astounding 80 percent of merchants don’t pass their interim assessments for PCI (payment card industry) compliance, according to researchers. Those failures can initiate consequences and challenges including vulnerabilities to attacks, infections, and malware. Another investigation noted the rise in data breaches with hackers infiltrating 60 percent of victim companies in just minutes.

Since almost all industries have struggled with mounting threats, compliance has become crucial to minimize risks for your firm, partners, and customers. Reviewing the main PCI compliance mistakes that organizations make and learning how to solve resulting problems will strengthen your online protection.

Misunderstood Industry Guidelines

Your company and main stakeholders need to understand PCI compliance rules fully. Being unaware of the guidelines or overlooking even one detail could make you non-compliant without realizing it. For instance, governing standards get more stringent with increased business size.

Not operating an e-commerce site may make you think that PCI compliance doesn’t involve your operation. But all organizations and merchants that accept, transmit, or store any amount of cardholder data must be compliant. That includes point-of-sale (POS) services as well as phone and mail orders. An Attestation of Compliance document proves that you meet PCI requirements.

If your company accepts transactions via clients’ credit or debit cards, PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) obligations also apply. Partnering with E-Complish, a reputable third-party payment solution provider, also necessitates an Attestation of PCI DSS Compliance.

Trying to follow complex industry standards on your own is a very cost- and time-intensive burden. But outsourcing those arduous responsibilities to E-Complish simplifies Level 1 PCI compliance. That designation means that we handle over 300,000 annual Visa transactions, the largest amount. Check out the payment challenges our reliable automated services can solve. E-Complish’s in-house programming experts will group any of our custom PCI applications to create a unique solution that suits your specific business needs.

Unawareness of Non-Compliance Penalties

Payment brands enforce PCI regulations, so they may fine acquiring banks $5000-$100,000 a month for violations. Banks pass those penalties down typically until they reach merchants. They may increase your transaction fees or terminate your business relationships.

Ineffective IT Service Provider Evaluations

Because your IT vendor plays a central role in your infrastructure, choosing a fitting partner that can satisfy their unique needs is essential. Any breach at your provider’s facility may impact your company, involving possible regulatory consequences while damaging your brand’s reputation.

Look beyond each third-party provider’s service portfolio to check other vital elements including certifications, industry standards history, and current security incident policies. Consider qualifications outside individual regulatory requirements. Weigh how your vendor manages its facilities. Learn which measures are ready to address malicious situations.

Under Prioritized Physical Security

As security breaches occur more frequently, they become more costly to victims in compromised data and documents, resulting in investigations, and specialized assistance for affected customers. Not focusing on physical defenses enough can be problematic. Virtual environments may be the first places receiving protection, but safeguarding components and physical areas also is imperative.

Your firm might focus on compliance so much that it overlooks some mandatory security elements. So prioritize PCI compliance while also shielding all physical and virtual environments properly. Defensive methods include biometric scanners and two-factor authentication for authorized access. To address attack threats on target servers and computer systems, control who can access your infrastructure. Maintain a suitably guarded fortress for both your data center and physical location.

Neglected Protection and Compliance Processes

If you don’t check your industry compliance and data security strategies and policies regularly, other concerns may emerge. Those measures must evolve with our changing threat environment to handle new weaknesses while safeguarding essential resources properly. Without conducting reviews routinely, out-of-date compliance and event-response methods could raise your risk level. Researchers cited that issue in frequent breaches after firms ignored security patch deployment.

Authentication causes other troubles. In over three-fourths of cases, weak, lost, or stolen login credentials led to cybercriminal success. IT supervisors can combat that problem and reduce threats by ensuring that all personnel use and change securely stored robust passwords regularly.

Conducting risk assessments can be helpful to identify and assign threat levels. They can prompt you to allocate resources better to implement adequate safeguards and tackle any issues that might lead to vulnerabilities. Reviewing and refining your compliance and security measures continuously will strengthen your protection while reducing your infiltration chances. 

Learn more today!

Amber Capece
Amber Capece
Amber comes to E-Complish with 12 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry. We are sure you are wondering how…