What Is PCI Scanning?

You may have heard about PCI scanning, but aren’t quite sure what it is, or if you need it. Hopefully this article will help. PCI stands for Payment Card Industry. A group, known as the PCI council consists of the five major credit card companies. They came up with a set of security standards in order to ensure that there is consistency throughout when processing credit cards.

If you are a merchant or service provider and accept credit cards you must confirm PCI compliance at least once a year. In order to be PCI compliant, network security scans, or PCI scans, are mandatory for all merchants and service providers that collect, process, or transmit payment card account information.

So what exactly is PCI scanning? It is when an ASV (Approved Scanning Vendor) scans your website to check for any vulnerabilities. All PCI scans must be conducted by a third party compliant network security scanning vendor. The scanning usually includes your websites IP address, but if you transfer your customers to a third-party shopping cart during the checkout process, then you should include their IP address to be scanned as well. This is very important because you could be held responsible if anyone gets a hold of your client's payment card information anywhere along the transaction process.

One place that offers PCI scanning as of January 1, 2009, is Trust Guard. I found that they are very affordable compared to the competitors, and they especially accommodate smaller businesses. Trust Guard not only offers PCI scanning, but also offers security and privacy trust seals. This means more sales for your website.

Hopefully this article has offered some answers to questions you may have about PCI scanning. Above all, you should remember that even though PCI scanning and compliance can be a bit confusing, it is important. Take the time to make sure your website is PCI compliant and not only will you be protecting your business, but you will see an increase in sales as customers will gain more trust in your website.