On the cusp of the new year, I’d like to welcome folks back from the holiday rush. Reading the news this morning it seems as though everyone’s already feeling the weight of debt after maxing out their credit cards this season.

The consumer debt level in Canada has climbed from $197 billion to $340 billion in just 7 years, and it’s continuing to increase… [News1130]

Once I got past the news about how consumers are going to start the new year in the red, there was an abundance of “credit card fraud” titles listed in the headlines. From a man stealing his customers’ credit card data in Minnesota, to members of an Iowa football team pleading guilty to credit card fraud charges.

Consumers have more to worry about aside form purchasing one too many gifts for loved ones resulting in a beefy statement next month. PCI compliance standards don’t simply protect merchants from costly penalties and potential breaches, they also safeguard consumers as afterall, it’s their data.

Protecting data is everyone’s responsibility. From diligent consumers so merchants stepping up and becoming compliant with the PCI DSS. Once consumers place their information in merchants’ hands, the responsibility shifts and it’s up to merchants to handle and avoid storage of that sensitive data.

According to a report from Visa issued on Oct. 24, 65 percent of the nation’s largest retailers are compliant with the PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard. That number is an increase of 81 percent from December 2006 and 63 percent since July. But the statistic is hardly a cause for celebration—it means 35 percent of large retailers were still out of step with the requirements a month after the Sept. 30 deadline. The challenges of achieving compliance have given birth to countless numbers of tools from vendors looking to address security and auditing concerns posed by the standard. [eWeek]

Audits are costly, as are breaches (especially if you’ve been following TJX’s story). The cost of becoming compliant pales in comparison to the consequences and potential weaknesses companies can face.

This new year, allow E-xact (who is fully PCI compliant) to demo our safe and secure processing tools. From Virtual Point of Sale, to Searching, Reports and various plugins. Not only do we have innovative do-not-store capabilities, we use the latest and sleekest technologies. Sign up for a free demo today, or contact us to find out how to start the new year in the right direction.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.