Why is PCI DSS Compliance on the Decline?

Are you keeping up with PCI DSS compliance?

According to a recent survey conducted by Verizon, it is becoming increasingly challenging to maintain PCI DSS compliance. Shockingly, less than 30% of businesses admitted to being able to maintain full compliance. However, there is a solution that can make this process easier. By relying on this integrated payments system, you can avoid becoming another statistic and effortlessly maintain your PCI DSS compliance.

What is PCI Compliance?

Maintaining PCI compliance means adhering to the guidelines set forth by PCI DSS, an organization established in 2006 to safeguard sensitive consumer data, including credit card numbers and personal information. With major credit card companies like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB prioritizing data breach prevention and merchant compliance, it becomes challenging for average merchants to meet these standards while juggling various other business obstacles.

A report conducted in 2014 revealed a significant increase in PCI compliance for three consecutive years. However, recent findings from the Verizon 2020 Payment Security Report indicate a concerning decline in compliance. Compared to the previous year, there was a nearly 9% decrease, and a staggering 27.5% decrease from 2016, in the number of businesses maintaining full compliance.

Security Testing is Coming Up Short

Regrettably, more than half of the respondents in the survey claimed that they had successfully conducted security system and process tests, while a staggering 66% revealed that their systems remained completely unmonitored. To mitigate this risk, the most secure approach is to refrain from storing any credit card information and instead opt for a secure integrated payments solution like Paya. However, if you do need to store data, it is crucial to secure often overlooked areas, such as:

• Networks and wireless access routers
• Payment card data stored in paper-based records (companies that take phone orders are particularly susceptible in this category)
• Ecommerce shopping cart software
• Level 3 payments

What Kind of Data is Being Stolen?

Thieves are on the hunt for valuable cardholder data, which they can exploit to create fake accounts or gain unauthorized access to funds. Once they have this information, they can engage in fraudulent transactions or even sell the stolen data for financial gain. By obtaining the Primary Account Number (PAN) and the necessary authentication details, these criminals can illegally assume the identity of the cardholder and misuse the card's data, leading to potentially devastating consequences.

These are the primary data elements that credit card thieves are actively targeting:

• PAN
• Cardholder First and Last Names
• Expiration Date
• CID (which should NEVER be stored)
• Magnetic stripe data

One of the easiest vulnerabilities for data thieves is seen in nearly half of the organizations in America: Default passwords. In Verizon's survey, a whopping 48% of companies have ever changed the vendor default password on systems where sensitive data may be stored.

Start Saving with Help from Paya's Integrated Payment Experts

Paya is the leader in delivering simpler, more efficient, and deeply integrated payment solutions with more than 25 years of industry experience and 2,000+ industry customers and partners. Paya is committed to delivering best-in-class integrated payment solutions across the full suite of Sage ERP products. We are proud to be Sage’s preferred partner for Integrated Payments in the US.   

At Paya we are unique from our competitors because we emphasize solutions engineering, engaging our domain experts as part of the early sales process. Through a collaborative but simple hands-on process, we develop a deep understanding of our partners’ current processes and pain points and requirements to ensure you get a platform and system with the capabilities you need. Paya has enabled businesses to optimize billing and invoice processes, deliver more payment options and greater flexibility to their customers, and improve back-office efficiencies.

Contact Paya's Acumatica Integrated Payments team to schedule a free consultation today! 

Learn more about how our credit card processing experts, solutions, and processes can benefit your organization and save you money!! 

See Paya's Acumatica Integrated Payments solution on ERPVAR's site.