ALLSTATE MERCHANT SERVICES LLC supports Nurit. PCI PED Requirements

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www.allstatemerchants.com Allstate Merchant Services, LLC 888-353 5800 Is a TOP RATED Merchant Service Provider located in New York's Financial District. AMS enables merchants to ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS nationally.
Whether opening a new business or expanding an established one, we provide flexible and reliable products and services that enable merchants across the nation to accept nearly all types of electronic payments including:

Look no further than recent headlines about payment security breaches and PIN pad tampering incidents involving merchants of all sizes. Sophisticated criminal organizations are targeting retailers and obtaining compromised account data with more regularity. Whether it’s fair or not, the ‘fault’ of these attacks is increasingly being placed squarely on the shoulders of merchants.

Many consumer and legislative groups are clamoring to place the cost burden fully on merchants as well. Today, being compliant with the current security standards may not be enough. Merchants need to adopt a comprehensive Payment Security Best Practices Program. The time to act is now - before you are compromised.

Maintaining consumer card holder security has quickly migrated from being an international concern to a huge financial liability for retailers. Retailers across North America are taking steps to lower their risk by implementing credit and debit card terminals that are PCI PED approved devices, the latest security standards established by the Payment Card Industry. January 1, 2008 may not have the widespread impact that the Y2K did, but for retailers, it may be almost as significant. As of January 1, 2008, retailers may not purchase non-PCI PED approvedsystems. The card associations have mandated that retailers who deploy non-PCI PED approved terminals purchased after January 1, 2008, will be liable in the event of a card information compromise that can be traced to non-PCI PED approved systems. This liability would include consumer card losses, costs incurred by card issuers for re-issuing compromised cards, card association fines and potentially civil penalties, not to mention the potential loss of customer goodwill and business from the negative publicity.

PCI PED Requirements

* Cryptographic control of prompting
* Prevention of PIN monitoring
* Deterrence of visual observation of PIN entry
* Logical software security against tampering
* Authentication of software applications
* No unnecessary storage of sensitive data
* DUKPT keys or fixed key security
* Encryption and key management requirements
* Credit card reader security
* Manufacturing security and process requirements
* Shipping security and process requirements

PCI DSS Requirements

* Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
* Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
* Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks
* Use and regularly update anti-virus software
* Develop and maintain secure systems and applications
* Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
* Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
* Restrict physical access to cardholder data

* Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
* Regularly test security systems and processes
* Maintain a policy that addresses information security

More information can be found online at http://www.allstatemerchants.com

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