With all the recent incidents of data breaches across the country, the last email you want to see in your inbox is this one:

“Dear Valued Customer,

It was recently reported that we were attacked by cyber criminals. We’ve confirmed that our payment data systems have been breached, and this could potentially impact customers using payment cards at our stores…”

Does this make your stomach squirm? Maybe sweat begins to form on your forehead. You start to backtrack to what days you were at that particular business – thinking what’s going to happen if you’re one of the unlucky ones. It’s not a good feeling.

Now, here’s an email you would never want to have to send out on your company’s behalf:

“Dear Valued Customer,

It was recently reported that we were attacked by cyber criminals. We’ve confirmed that our payment data systems have been breached, and this could potentially impact customers using payment cards at our…”

Remember all those unsettling feeling from before, you’ve just made every one of your customers feel that way. Isn’t that worse?

Luckily, there’s a solve – making sure you’re PCI compliant and keeping up with it. Here are the six PCI regulations, you must comply with:

• Have a secure card processing network
• Protect all cardholder information and data
• Protect your systems against malware
• Put strong access control measures in place
• Monitor and test your networks
• Create and maintain and Information Security Policy

With these steps in place, you’ll be able to decrease the risk of security breaches, boost customer confidence and gain peace of mind. And, if you use a third-party processing system, don’t automatically assume you are protected.

While being PCI compliant doesn’t mean you’re 100 percent safe from seeing the first email in your inbox, it does make sure you won’t write an email filled with bad news. Let us help you make sure your customers’ payment information is kept secure. Contact us today for your free, no-obligation PCI compliance audit.