By Michael Ryan
Recently, Gartner Group, surveyed U.S. retailers looking at the spending levels for PCI compliance. The findings reflect much of what we’ve seen in the market as we have discussions with major retailers. Most big brands have already taken steps to achieve PCI compliance and so 89 percent of Level 1 merchants surveys were compliant while 57 percent of merchants that that fall between Level 2-4 were compliant. But interestingly, the survey found that Level 2-4 merchants are spending more on compliance.
So what gives?
Of course, the spending increase for lower level merchants could just be basic math. There are far more retailers at the lower levels than at Level 1, half of which still need to take steps to become PCI compliant.
One of the motivations that Gartner analyst, Avivah Litan, points to is that the merchant-acquiring banks that enforce PCI compliance on behalf of the card brands like Visa, MasterCard etc., have been contacting Level 1 merchants, reinforcing the message that they must be in compliance with PCI standards. Fines and threats are usually effective motivators.
The costs increases for Level 2 merchants are just the associations’ long term plans playing out. They started with e-commerce merchants, moved to the largest retailers and are now increasing pressure on the next level of retailers who are currently not meeting compliance standards.
The pressure is good and we do hope that retailers realize that becoming PCI compliant is necessary, but only a baseline. It’s necessary but it is only the baseline. In fact, Gartner predicts that by the end of 2012, 75 percent of the retailers that are breached will be PCI compliant.
So what is a retailer to do?
Use PCI standards as a baseline for protection but understand that newer technologies are available to remove the sensitive data from their systems altogether and ensure that they have a layered approach to securing their networks. From encryption to tokenization, retailers must realize the benefits of implementing these technologies including reductions in the scope of PCI audits as well as minimizing card data exposure, making retailers a less attractive target for attacks.
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