What Is Payment Card Industry (PCI)?
The Payment Card Industry (Short for PCI) is a way for you to get your hands on some cash without having to interact with another human being. It's also a way for companies to make money off of you. That's right—they're making money off of your money! So how does it work? Well, first, you have to get a card from your bank. Then, whenever you want to buy something, you swipe that card at the point-of-sale terminal (POS). The POS then sends some info about your purchase over an encrypted connection (this is called "data encryption") to the merchant's payment gateway, where it's processed and sent back over another encrypted connection (this is called "transaction encryption"). After this happens, all the details are stored in an online database called a "POS terminal". Once they've been processed by this database and verified against other databases like those of Visa or MasterCard, they're sent back to the merchant via an unencrypted connection so they can be printed on receipts or posted online. The PCI is like many things in life: It's not technically mandatory, but if you don't do it, you're asking for trouble. If you're wondering what the PCI is and why you should care, here's the deal: The Payment Card Industry (PCI) is a set of requirements that must be followed to ensure that merchants who accept credit cards are protecting their customers' personal information from hackers. A company's compliance with the PCI standards is voluntary, but failing to comply can have major consequences. For example, suppose your business fails to meet PCI requirements. In that case, it could lower industry standards and make it easier for hackers to steal credit card information from consumers—which means your customers will be left vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. In addition to being bad for business, non-compliance can result in fines. So, if your company is in danger of being penalized by the payment card industry because its security isn't up to par? We've got just what you need—a solution that can help get your business back on track before things get even worse!
Related Terms by Financial Technology
Join Our Newsletter
Get weekly news, engaging articles, and career tips-all free!
By subscribing to our newsletter, you're cool with our terms and conditions and agree to our Privacy Policy.




























