PCI Security Standards Council Announces Special Interest Groups

WAKEFIELD, Mass., November 15, 2011 - The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), a global, open industry standards body providing management of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), PIN Transaction Security (PTS) requirements and the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS), today announced the results of the PCI Council election for Special Interest Groups (SIGS). Special Interest Groups (SIG) leverage the expertise of more than 600 PCI SSC Participating Organizations and provide a vehicle for incorporating their ideas and input into the work of the Council.

Close to 500 votes were cast by merchants, financial institutions, service providers and associations for the initiatives they want to prioritize in 2012. The three elected groups will focus on:

Cloud eCommerce Security Risk Assessment

Participating Organizations were allowed three votes on a shortlist of seven topics that were the result of 13 proposals by the community. Successful project proposals represent a cross section of the PCI SSC community from around the globe and include active participants from CyberSource, HyTrust, Sense of Security Pty Ltd., SISAInformation Security, The UK Cards Association, Trend Micro and TSYS. "This is our first SIG election and I'm really pleased with the turnout, with a quarter of all of our Participating Organizations voting. Most impressively, a third of our votes came from outside North America showing that involvement in the Council's activity and development of PCI Standards and resources to help secure the payment chain is truly a global endeavor," said Jeremy King, European director, PCI Security Standards Council. "I'm looking forward to close collaboration between the Council and SIG membership."

Special Interest Groups are a critical forum for industry participation in Council initiatives to increase payment card security. SIGs focus on providing recommendations to the Council which often results in guidance for interpreting and implementing the PCI Standards. To date SIG participants have made significant contributions to Council resources on topics such as wireless security, EMV chip, point-to-point encryption and virtualized environments.

The Council invites any members of the PCI SSC community interested in participating in one of these SIG projects to indicate their interest by emailing sigs@pcisecuritystandards.org before November 30th. Following this, Council SIG leads will convene each group to formalize the group charter and precise scope of work project. This will be shared with the Community by the end of the year, with SIGs anticipated to start work in the beginning of 2012.

"We're delighted that risk assessment has been selected by our peers to move forward as a 2012 SIG project. I'd like to encourage anyone with expertise or interest in this topic area or the other final selections to get involved," said Dharshan Shanthamurthy, chief consultant at SISA Information Security. "Council SIGs are a great opportunity for professional development, networking, and contributing to something that will benefit the entire industry."

About the PCI Security Standards Council

The PCI Security Standards Council is an open, global forum that is responsible for the development, management, education, and awareness of the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and related standards that increase payment data security.

Founded in 2006 by the major payment card brands American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., the Council has more than 600 Participating Organizations representing merchants, banks, processors and vendors worldwide. To learn more about playing a part in securing payment card data globally, please visit: http://pcisecuritystandards.org.