Feds agree the PCI DSS works

In a recent post on the Atlanta Federal Reserve website, Jennifer Windh, AFR Retail Payments Risk Forum Payments Risk Analyst, said the Verizon 2011 Payment Card Industry Compliance Report supports the conclusion that compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) "is effective at preventing breaches." She additionally said the report validates the observation that "the most compliant organizations are the least likely to be breached."

The second annual Verizon report, released at the end of September 2011, analyzes data gathered from more than 100 Verizon PCI DSS qualified security assessments. The analysis includes data from companies in the United States, Europe and Asia and builds on information in the 2010 compliance report.

"At first glance, the report's findings seem discouraging because only 21 percent of organizations are found to be fully compliant at the beginning of the audit," Windh wrote. "However, the researchers assessed each organization's compliance across each [PCI DSS] requirement, and found that a further 37 percent were compliant across 90 to 99 percent of requirements."

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