Why Compliance 101? Person Image

Why Compliance 101?

Compliance 101 can help you meet all your Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliance needs. While many small to mid-sized businesses consider regulatory compliance to be a complicated and confusing conundrum, Compliance 101 views it as protection for your business from the expensive and destructive fallout associated with data breaches.

Simply put, if you are not PCI DSS compliant, you’re putting two of your greatest assets – your business and your reputation – at tremendous risk.

Compliance 101 empowers you with knowledge and services to achieve and maintain PCI compliance. We break down what, for many businesspeople, is a complex subject and make it understandable, beginning with a clear explanation of what PCI compliance is, why it’s mandatory for all merchants who process credit card payments, where your business fits into its four basic levels, and how PCI compliance benefits your bottom line.

Compliance 101 sorts through all the confusing jargon associated with PCI compliance, educating you about PCI compliance audits and how they affect your business, as well as the ins and outs of the PCI Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and PCI compliance scanning. We take the mystery out of the 12 control objectives – the so-called “Digital Dozen” of PCI DSS you may have heard about. We debunk common compliance myths and answer the most frequently-asked questions about PCI compliance. You’ll also find a variety of PCI compliance solutions to meet your specific needs, including information you need to know to meet Visa compliance and MasterCard compliance requirements.

PCI compliance encompasses both the software and hardware that you use every day, both of which have serious implications for your business. In our section on software compliance, Compliance 101 covers all the bases, including data storage, basic credit card software processing tools and the importance of getting and staying software compliant. The other side of the PCI compliance equation –terminal compliance – is equally important because a noncompliant terminal puts all your customer information, and possibly your entire business, in jeopardy. Compliance 101 reviews how to know if you’re at risk for a data security breach and what devices will keep your customers and your business safe. This section also includes a compilation of hardware and software FAQs to answer the most commonly-asked questions about these important tools of PCI compliance.

Once you’re comfortable with the basics of PCI compliance, move on to the other side of the coin: the potential pitfalls of noncompliance, including hefty fines and noncompliance fees, income lost during downtime and the potential for irreparable damage to your reputation. Compliance 101’s tutorial on data breach protection emphasizes the fundamental importance of keeping your operating systems safe in a time when more than $35 million worth of personal data is compromised through security breaches each year, and when an estimated 80 percent of U.S. businesses have been the victim of at least one data breach. Penetration testing through Compliance 101 protects you by improving your data security and providing security awareness training while maintaining your compliance and protecting your data. Want to know more about the threat of a data breach? Check out our FAQ section.

Compliance 101 is your one-stop resource for everything you need to know about achieving and maintaining PCI compliance and about how regulatory compliance benefits your business and your bottom line. If you’re out of compliance, we can help get you where you need to be. If you’re already PCI compliant, we’ll help keep you there.

The information on this page is not intended to be a source of legal advice. Therefore, you should not rely on the information provided herein as legal advice for any purpose, and should always seek the legal advice of competent counsel in your jurisdiction.