Do you store sensitive credit card data on your company's own internal system? If so, are you absolutely certain that it is sufficiently protected? And are you really sure that you understand the consequences of suffering a security breach? The unfortunate thing is that many companies, even large national chains, are not properly guarded or prepared for the consequences of insufficient security. These companies have spent millions of dollars to implement security measures and still they suffer breaches. New solutions were needed to cover some of the loopholes that had a tendency to crop up in conventional security methods. Remote storage of credit card data is one of the easier and more obvious choices for data security. Remote storage of credit card data is also a great way to meet PCI compliance. The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) was developed to help guide companies in their efforts toward implementing sufficient security. Now any company that processes, stores, or transmits credit card information is required to become PCI compliant, but this process can be a time consuming and costly procedure. But remote storage of credit card data is one solution to a number of the PCI DSS requirements. The first and most obvious benefit to remote storage of credit card data is the simple fact that criminals can't steel something from you that you don't actually have. No matter what security measure you implement, chances are there's someone out there just a couple steps ahead of all the current security systems. In these cases, they find little holes in the system and, if you aren't on constant guard, they'll get in and cause some serious damage. But if there's nothing there for them to take, there's no reason for them to stick around. Which brings up another benefit to remote storage systems. If you're going to store and manage sensitive information on your own system then you must be prepared to spend all the necessary time, effort, and money to stay compliant and up-to-date with current security measures. This also implies a need for constant monitoring and management and a plan of action in case you do detect suspicious activities or a full security breach. The unfortunate truth is that in the daily grind of regular business, many companies simply don't have the time or resources to devote to data security that are, in truth, very necessary. The major benefit of remote storage, then, is that you are trusting this information to a company whose business is making sure that it all remains safe. Nothing else gets in the way of securing their systems because their entire business depends on effectively guarding your sensitive information. Now consider all the other ways that sensitive information can be compromised on your own system. Remember, threats don't just come from outside your company. It only takes a single, ethically questionable employee on the inside to cause a lot of problems. There are a couple of requirements in the PCI DSS that were created to deal with this very issue. For example, the seventh requirement states that you must "restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know", and the ninth requirement mandates that you "restrict physical access to cardholder data." In any given company there are some specific people who need access to this sensitive information. But unfortunately, in many given companies, many unnecessary people have access to this information. And should any of those people happen to have criminal inclinations, you could be in a lot of trouble. These are the people who have physical access to your systems, and these are the people who are most likely to find or steal encryption keys. Remote storage of credit card data is a simple way to remove this sensitive information from the prying eyes and reaching hands of people who should not have it. It is possibly one of the best ways to ensure data security and get closer to PCI compliance.
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