About PCI
PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, was created to offer customers using credit and debit cards for payment with the highest level of trust and security. These security standards apply to all companies that process, store or transmit card and related customer information. Bell is committed to maintaining our industries highest standards of PCI DSS Compliance.
According to Visa®, during the last two years, more than 80% of all known cases of identity theft occur in smaller businesses. As a result, major credit card companies came together to develop the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for merchants.
PCI DSS provides four levels of merchant classifications. For example many of our merchants are Level 4 Merchants. A Level 4 Merchant is a merchant that processes less than 1MM of either Visa® or MasterCard® transactions or processes less than 20,000 Visa® or MasterCard® ecommerce transactions.
The Payment Card Industry mandates that all merchants must be certified under these Data Security Standards. However, many companies have found implementing PCI DSS requirements confusing. As a result, many companies do not yet meet PCI DSS requirements, and face regulatory fines as well as potentially crippling losses of customer data – and customer trust.