Be Smart with Holiday Online Shopping

The holidays are just around the corner.  Online sellers and shoppers are both optimistic about the upcoming holiday season.  According to Shop.org’s eHoliday survey 68% of online retailers say they expect to see growth of at least 15% over last year. 

People are more eager to hit the web this holiday season then to go into the malls and deal with the holiday rush.  With that beginning said are you up-to-date on what online sites are safe? How can you tell? 

All website’s you go to should be PCI Compliant.  PCI stands for Payment Card Industry and compliance with the industry standards is a requirement for those that accept the major credit cards and for software providers who have application which involve the transmission and/or storage of credit card information.  If breaches are found on systems that are not PCI compliant, the major credit card companies have the ability to levy significant fines on the offending parties. 

Are you not sure if the shopping cart you are in PCI Compliant?  The PCI Security Standards Council maintains a list of licensed shopping carts.  Hosted shopping cart developers have to prove their compliance through an assessment with a Council-trained Qualified Security Assessor. Payment associations keep track of hosted shopping carts that have been certified as PCI compliant. Visa, for example, publishes a list of these approved carts.

Does the shopping cart you are purchasing or paying a bill not appear on either one of these lists – I would reconsider about make that purchase or paying that bill online.

BTInet has designed our network and server infrastructure to help comply with the various regulatory requirements. We work with you individually to design and implement a hosting infrastructure that satisfies your specific requirements.  Give us a call today before it’s too late!

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