The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards created by major payment card brands (American Express, Discover, JCB International, MasterCard and Visa). These are designed to protect cardholder data and ensure that businesses handle payment transactions securely.
PCI DSS provides a framework for organizations that handle payment card transactions to establish and maintain robust security measures.
PCI DSS applies to any organization that processes, transmits, or stores cardholder data. This includes merchants, service providers, and financial institutions. It applies to all types of payment cards, such as credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards.
PCI DSS is a dynamic standard that evolves over time to address new security threats and technologies. The latest version is PCI DSS 4.0 – which you can learn more about later in this course.