When you are looking to take online payments you may want to make sure that your payment processing software meets the PCI Security Standards Council’s criteria. This council was founded by Discover Financial, American Express, Visa, Mastercard and JCB International jointly.

These moguls of the payment processing industry thought that it was important to set some sort of standard for the safety of both consumers and business owners. They check to make sure that your software will work with different interfaces worldwide and any system so that the information being passed through the network is secure no matter what channels is goes through. Not only do they look at your software but they look at how you run your business. They want to see that you have the security of the customer and the security of your network as a priority.

Some basic things that need to happen to comply with the PCI DSS are:

1. Keep a secure network, a firewall is crucial. No programs that remember passwords are okay. You must show that you are protecting the network and the customer.
2. Transactions must be encrypted and data of the payment information must be stored in a completely secure way.
3. Anti-virus software must be up to date and run as often as is necessary to keep your network from being open to any invasion.
4. Not just everyone in your business can have access to the payment information, it needs to be tightly controlled so that as few people know the information as possible.
5. Monitor and test your networks.
6. Take all measures necessary to protect customers and their information.