Did you know that card fraud losses in the UK amounted to £572.6 million in 2024, as per UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report 2024? The numbers are indeed staggering; however, it should not be forgotten that the majority of these breaches were due to companies that were unable to keep customers’ data safe. This is the main reason the PCI security standards were established.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a universal standard that defines the minimum security measures required to protect cardholder data in any part of the world at every stage of its lifecycle: processing, storage, or transmission.
In this blog, we explain what PCI DSS really means, who must comply, what the standard requires, and how Qualysec helps businesses achieve PCI DSS compliance.
What Are PCI Security Standards?
The PCI DSS, or the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, is a framework that offers security for cardholder data. It protects data in processing, storage, and transmission.
The PCI DSS outlines both the technical and the operational practices that organizations must adopt in order to protect sensitive payment data. The measures comprise firewalls, secure transmission, access control management, network testing, and the application of security policies for the information involved. Knowing the PCI requirements helps businesses achieve PCI compliance certification easily.
Who Needs to Comply in the UK?
Any business dealing with the storage or processing of cardholder data has to adhere to the PCI DSS standards.
The list of such organizations includes:
- Merchants – Consisting of retailers, hospitality operators, online shops, or service providers, anybody accepting debit or credit cards counts as a merchant.
- Payment processors and gateways – The transactions are handled by these entities that route, authorize, or settle them.
- Third-party service providers – Cloud hosts, managed IT providers, or developers that manage systems touching payment data.