Retail

The retail industry has been increasingly affected by information security threats with the rise of identity theft. Cyber criminals form organized efforts around stealing credit card numbers, social security number and other personal information from retailers large and small. The theft and subsequent fraud results in losses exceeding $50 Billion dollars annually in the United States alone, according to a recent US study from Javelin Strategy & Research, Better Business Bureau, Identity Theft Resource Center, Federal Trade Commission, Gartner, and Privacy & American Business.

Since 2005, the credit card industry has been formalizing security standards and the process for compliance with those standards, starting initially with Visa and MasterCard combining their merchant security programs to form the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. This standard has continued to evolve with the changing threat environment. Now in version 1.1 the standard is championed by the PCI Security Standards Council. The council also manages the programs for qualified security assessors (QSAs) and approved scanning vendors (ASVs).

How Critical Watch Delivers PCI Compliance

Critical Watch is and Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) for fulfilling the quarterly scan requirement for merchants and service providers. Built on its FusionVM engine, the FusionVM PCI solution is a portal driven, turnkey, PCI compliance tool enabling quarterly scanning and submission of reports to acquiring banks with no on site equipment. Critical Watch has been an ASV for 3 years and has combined turnkey technology with expert technical assistance to make the compliance process as easy and effective as possible.