I Believe that It Is Cheaper To Be PCI Compliant Than To Not Be PCI Compliant

According to a study conducted by Solidcore Systems, Emagined Security, and Fartrex, the lack of being PCI Compliant could potentially exceed the cost of being PCI Compliant by 20 times!

In James Barrow’s book on achieving PCI compliance, he states that the research study showed that “not becoming compliant with the standard (Data Security Standard – or DSS) could lead to additional costs posed by a data breach.”

For one, the SSC (Security Standards Counsel) can elevate your business to Level 1 status following a breach or compromise. That means that you will have to do everything a Level 1 has to do despite the lower level of transactions that you process. Of course, the biggest expense with this option is the previously unnecessary need to hire a Qualified Security Assessor or or pay someone inside your organization to conduct an Internal Audit if it is signed by an officer of the company.

Also, Barrow continues, “a breach may require further expenditures related to customer notifications and providing credit monitoring services. Finally, there are the expenses that may result from litigation, as well as the unknown variable of the cost to the company in loss of customer confidence.”

So, you decide, you can scan your site for vulnerabilities against hackers and increase customer confidence by displaying trust seals. Or you can leave your site open to hackers and outside attacks and potentially face the swollen and costly revised requirements of the Payment Card Industry.

To put it in monetary terms, you can pay almost $10,000 a year to repair the damage caused by security breaches from hackers and outside attacks. Or, you can pay a reliable scanning company about $500 a year for daily vulnerability scanning and PCI Compliant Reports.

Included in the yearly price you will receive a Security Scanned trust seal which will grow your business significantly. In fact, the best trust seal companies offer a “Double Your Money Back Guarantee” if your sales/conversion rates do not increase simply by displaying their seals.

With that knowledge, getting a daily scan and a seal to show online consumers that your site is safe seems like a no-brainer. Don't believe me or the research study? Ask the thousands of website owners who have been hacked! It is cheaper to be PCI Compliant than to not be PCI Compliant.

Author: Aaron Brandley is an independent website specialist. To learn more about PCI Compliance, go to www.pci-compliance.us. To purchase PCI Compliant website security scanning and trust seals, visit www.go.Trust-Guard.com.