To many, the whole idea of a bright side to credit-card data theft is ridiculous, but it is true nonetheless. As much as I hate to admit it, it usually takes serious security breaches for companies to actually react. Obviously, credit-card beaches can be classified in the ’serious’ category. So, through these breaches, companies finally realize that they need to increase their security measures. Unfortunately, I think this ‘reactive’ mindset will stick with a majority of companies for a long time. If only they would think pro-actively…

Security experts say every time a retailer ends up in the headlines for losing customer credit-card data, a PCI data security project gets its wings.

Security experts say every time a retailer ends up in the headlines for losing customer credit-card data, a PCI project gets its wings. And,as more companies look to the channel for help with securing their networks for PCI compliance, it’s turning out to be a wonderful life for solution providers.

Companies are paying more attention to the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a set of requirements drawn up by major credit-card companies for securing cardholder data. In PCI, liability for negligence rolls downhill—from the card companies to the banks that process credit-card transactions and, finally, to the merchants, who face fines, and even revocation of credit-card processing rights, if they don’t comply.

The steady drumbeat of recent major credit-card information breaches has been keeping PCI in the spotlight. Last August, hackers got their hands on credit-card account data and personal information for approximately 19,000 customers of AT&T’s e-commerce site, and then launched a targeted phishing campaign a few days later that was apparently designed to extract additional information from the affected customers. [more]

Tags: Hackers, Computer Protection