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.

Security Scans Lead to Trust Seals Which Lead to Increased Revenue!

There are many trust seals on the market today. That's because online consumers have never been so cautious about shopping online as they are now.

After Trust Guard has scanned our site for over 30,000 vulnerabilities, we need to take full advantage of our now safe site by displaying Security Scanned Verification Seals.

It makes sense for us as website owners to remove all the fear, doubt, and suspicion that accompanies making a buying decision online. When there is no hesitation to do what we want our online visitors to do, our conversion rates will increase.

Online consumers worry about the security of our websites. They ask: Is this website safe? Will I get a virus? Do they scan daily for vulnerabilities so that hackers won't get in and steal my personal information?

They worry about the privacy of the our websites. They ask: If I give them my email address, will I wake up tomorrow with 50 emails from companies I've never heard of?

They worry about our integrity as business owners. They ask: Is this a trustworthy business? If there is an issue with my purchase, will I be able to contact someone?

There are several ways that trust seals give consumers the peace of mind they need to trust us as website owners. They can see on the seals the date of the last time that our websites were verified. Also included on the trust seals are the names of our websites - customized exclusively for each particular company.

They can click on the seals and view the certificates that the trust seal company provides that show when our websites have been verified. The certificates will also show that the websites have passed the daily vulnerability scans – which everyone knows is the first line of defense in keeping our websites safe from hackers and outside attacks.

Online consumers can also view our phone, email, and physical address on the certificates, so that they know that they will be able to get a hold of us should the need arise. The trust seal company also provides their information, so that if for some reason we as website owners do not resolve a disagreement with a customer in a timely fashion, they can help.

It's really pretty simple. When we as website owners increase the amount of traffic that trusts us, more people will do what we want them to do. One of the most productive ways to achieve high levels of trust with online consumers is to display trust seals on our websites.

SSL Certificates Don't Protect Your Site From Hackers!

Many people confuse SSL certificates with Payment Card Industry (PCI) approved website security scanning. Because of this misunderstanding, website owners and online consumers are not as safe as they think they are.

SSL Certificates only verify that the website is protecting transactions as they travel from the consumer to the appropriate financial institution. Any of the consumer’s personal information saved on the website’s computer (server) is still at risk of being stolen. The website itself is still at risk of being compromised. To make an analogy for you visual thinkers, think of a train station as your website and then think of a train and train tracks as credit card transactions. An active SSL protects the train and the train tracks, but the train station is still vulnerable to attacks.

PCI approved website security scans check for vulnerabilities on websites that could allow attacks from hackers. These vulnerabilities allow hackers to steal online consumer information. They also allow hackers the opportunity to damage or steal website files and even shut the site down.

Another incorrect belief is that non e-commerce websites are not in danger of outside attacks. Even sites seemingly nothing of monetary value have been compromised when hackers redirect traffic, damage files, or even close down the sites. These websites do not need an SSL certificate, but they do need PCI approved vulnerability scanning.

Trust Guard, the leader in website security and verification, performs PCI approved website security scans. According to current statistics, 73% of websites that are scanned by Trust Guard fail their initial scan, according to its president David Brandley. This includes sites that had been previously scanned by other scanning companies. The difference is that Trust Guard scans for twice as many vulnerabilities as their closest competitor.

“Honestly, I was surprised when I found out that almost three out of four websites aren’t safe from outside attacks!” confesses Brandley. “I knew that there were issues with website security, but the problem is worse than I thought it was.”

Once website owners understand that their SSL Certificate does not protect their site from hackers, and therefore purchase scanning services, the next step is to let online consumers visiting their site to know that their site is scanned for vulnerabilities against hackers.

Trust-Guard.com is a division of Global Marketing Strategies. As well as PCI website security scanning, Trust Guard currently provides website Security Scanned Seals. The seal provides peace of mind for online consumers, who know that the website safely transfers their private information, that the site is consistently scanned for vulnerabilities, and that the business will be accessible to them should problems arise.

Tests show that online consumers are more prone to purchase products and services more often from websites that display Trust Guard seals. This is because the shopper feels safe, secure, and confident in the company. To learn more about how website owners can turn more of their online visitors into valued customers with trust seals, please visit www.go.Trust.Guard.com.