What SMBs Need To Know About Security But Are Afraid To Ask

After more than 10 years making a name for itself as delivering a globally recognized industry standard, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) recently launched a new set of payment protection resources for small businesses which has been appropriately called PCI Payment Protection Resources for Small Merchants. This is a timely launch, for sure, given the increased awareness and focus on third party vendor risk and the realities behind small- to mid-sized business security postures.

Furthering this point, the PCI SSC noted in a recent press release that small businesses around the world are increasingly at risk for payment data theft — and nearly half of cyberattacks worldwide in 2015 were against small businesses with fewer than 250 workers.

In response to this trend, and as a means to help small- to mid-sized business merchants protect their own data – as well as their customers’ data – the PCI SSC Small Merchant Taskforce developed the new set of payment protection resources.

Troy Leach, Chief Technology Officer for the PCI SSC, captures the essence of this delivery quite well by saying: “Small merchants often rely on their banks and their technology vendors for information on what’s needed to take card payments. For security to become a priority, it has to be part of that dialogue.”