Over 11 billion customer records have been exposed due to over 8,500 data breaches since 2005. These are the most recent figures from The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which has been reporting on data breaches and security breaches impacting customers since 2005.
A data security standard was developed to protect customer data and trust in the payment ecosystem. In 2006, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB founded the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) to govern and maintain credit card data security standards. Before the establishment of the PCI SSC, these five credit card companies each had their security standards programs, each with relatively comparable objectives and purposes.
They joined forces through the PCI SSC to agree on a single standard policy, the PCI Data Security Standards (also known as PCI DSS), to assure a minimum degree of safety for customers and banks in the internet era.
PCI DSS is quite challenging
If you are an owner of a Fintech App Development or planning to develop a Fintech app, you need to handle card data. That's why your business must meet 300+ security controls in PCI DSS. There are about 1,800 pages of official PCI Council documentation regarding PCI DSS and over 300 pages to explain which form(s) to use when assessing compliance.
Let's understand the PCI Data Security Standard in Financial Software Development
in easy words.
What is PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)?
PCI DSS is the global security standard for all companies that store, handle, or transport sensitive authentication data and/or cardholder data. PCI DSS establishes a baseline degree of safety for customers and aids in the reduction of fraud and data breaches throughout the payment ecosystem. It applies to any business that accepts or processes payment cards.
What is PCI DSS certification?
PCI DSS certification ensures that your financial app development company covers best practices to ensure the security of online transactions and card data at the business end, including the following:
- Firewalls installation
- Data encryption at some point of transmission
- Antivirus software deployment and more
PCI-compliant service providers must additionally limit access to cardholder data and network resources. With PCI compliance, a financial app development company can reassure customers about the security of their financial transactions with your company.
On the other hand, a data breach resulting in the loss of sensitive financial data has significant ramifications for a company, including fines imposed by card issuers, litigation, a tarnished reputation, and decreased sales. As a result, as a financial app development company, it is essential to invest in PCI-DSS-certified payment gateways to ensure the total security of financial transactions for your online business.
Why is PCI Compliance essential for online financial app development companies?
PCI DSS certification is required for practically any fintech software development services providers that accept card payments online. Customers' financial information is extremely sensitive data that must be safeguarded. Regularly assessing and maintaining any vulnerability or gap in data security helps to avoid the loss of sensitive cardholder information.
Regular audits and monitoring in accordance with PCI DSS are critical for a financial app development company to ensure data security for online enterprises.
What are the advantages of adhering to the PCI DSS?
- Reduced likelihood of data breaches
- Cardholder data security
- Identity theft is less likely to occur.
- Developing a brand's reputation
- Customer loyalty
Who Should Follow PCI DSS Requirements?
The PCI DSS standard applies to the financial app development company, online vendors, banks, service providers, contact centers, payment gateways, and other businesses that handle, transmit, and store payment information. If your organization executes one of the procedures above at least once a year, it must comply with the PCI DSS requirements. The authorized authorities will punish you if you fail to undertake yearly certification.
Fintech software development services providers may fall under different compliance levels based on the annual volume of completed transactions. There are a total of four of them. Each is summarized below.
- Level 1 enterprises have more than 6 million transactions. It also applies to companies that have already experienced security breaches. An annual audit is conducted by a Qualified Security Assessor or an in-house team member with a particular certificate to determine PCI-DSS conformance. They summarize the audit results in a report created using this form. Furthermore, the certified business examines the network four times a year for flaws.
- Companies in Level 2 have 1-6 million transactions. They should also be audited and scanned regularly. The latter is ordered from an Approved Scanning Vendor (AVS) with the necessary instruments to carry out the operation.
- Level 3 businesses have between 20,000 and one million transactions. They are classified similarly to level 2 businesses.
- Level 4 is for companies with less than 20,000 transactions and has criteria identical to the second and third levels.
A Plan For Continuous Compliance
Continuous compliance ensures your working environment is up to code and safe for client data. Compliance includes more than merely meeting all of the requirements on a checklist. To change operations, Fintech software development services providers must first assess how these criteria connect to your unique agenda.
Among the steps you may take to ensure continued compliance are:
- A Strategy for Developing Access Control Policies that Comply with PCI Requirements
- Keeping and Maintaining Extensive Records Management
- Vulnerabilities are tested regularly.
Conclusion
With everything from end-user security to your company's future resting on the proper deployment and maintenance of PCI DSS compliance, you should contact a fintech app development company that is well-versed in compliance formalities. The company might be in your home country or elsewhere; for example, you can select Fintech Software Development Services. Choose the best if you want great Financial Software Development. In any event, before finishing anything, con companies the agency's skill and knowledge.
PCI DSS FAQs
According to the PCI Compliance Guide, the following are some of the most commonly asked PCI questions:
Q1. Who is accountable for adhering to the PCI DSS terms?
These security requirements apply to every entity that accepts, holds, or transmits cardholder data, regardless of the number of transactions per year or the organization's size.
Q2. What factors influence PCI compliance levels?
The transaction volume processed by fintech software development services in 12 months determines which of the four PCI compliance tiers it falls into.
Q3. Does PCI DSS apply to those companies that accept credit cards over the phone?
Yes. Every business that keeps, processes, or transmits cardholder data must be PCI compliant.
Q4. Can I avoid PCI DSS compliance for my company by utilizing third-party processors?
Using a third-party provider for payment processing decreases a company's risk exposure and compliance validation requirements. However, this does not mean that PCI DSS should be ignored.
Q5. How does a vulnerability scan relate to PCI compliance?
A vulnerability scan utilizes an automated program to verify a merchant's systems for any vulnerabilities. It examines networks and applications remotely using external IP addresses.
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