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

The PCI Standard is mandated by card brands and administered by Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud. Validation of compliance is performed annually, either by an external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) or by a firm-specific Draft: Internal Security Assessor (ISA), that creates a Report on Compliance for organizations handling large volumes of transactions, or by Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) for companies handling smaller volumes.

Why is PCI DSS compliance important for your business?

1. Secure your business data: In today’s connected world it is important to not only pay attention to physical security but also to dedicate enough time to protect your digital information. The whole process of PCI DSS is to protect card data from hackers and thieves. By complying, you can keep data secure and avoid a costly data breach

2. Improve customer assurance: Customer confidence is really important for your business. People would never feel confident to do business with you if you can not assure data protection. Getting PCI DSS compliant and promoting that to your customers shows that you are serious about their data security. It also shows that you taking every precaution to keep their payment data safe. It gives them (and you) some peace of mind

3. Protect your clients: Your customer show trust in you while making any online transaction and sharing their card information. You are responsible for securing customer card information. Any threat to your customer’s data can also invite legal ac for your company

4. Helps to avoid fines: Any data loss not only results in loss of customer trustability for your organization but also will be followed by lawsuits and fines. Such lawsuits can result in big losses for a small organization.
Wyndham Hotel was sued by the Federal Trade Commission because they were breached three times. They had falsely said they were secure after each breach

5. Reduces cost of a data breach: Data breach can cost you more than half a million dollar. The cost will also come in terms lower customer confidence. Being PCI DSS compliant will reduce cost by stopping data breach, but to also help prevent fines

Statistics about PCI DSS compliance:

• PCI DSS compliance recorded 167% growth since 2012
• According to Verizon report, 80% of organizations are still not compliant
• More than 70% companies fail to audit after the first year of receiving PCI DSS compliance
• Verizon also explains that in ten years of having a team investigating PCI DSS compliance. They never found a company fully complaint during the breach
• IBM securities explain, $4 million is the average cost of a data breach
• Around 69% of customer would less likely to do business with a breached organization

AxisRooms has partnered with payment gateways which are fully PCI DSS compliant. We are working with trusted companies such as Bank of Baroda, Paytm, HDFC Bank, Razorpay, PayPal, etc to provide secure payment gateways for our customers.