Acunetix Publishes PCI Compliance Guide

London, UK Â May 30, 2007 Â Businesses that rely on payment bycredit cards are required to comply with the PCI security standards by September2007. Non compliance could result in loss of merchant account, severe fines andlawsuits. In view of these new regulations, Acunetix has published a PCI ComplianceGuide to help companies understand the concept behind the Payment Card Industry aswell as documenting the steps needed to reach compliance.

PCI Compliance at a glancePCI Compliance is a structured security checklist which aims at securing financialdata, and helps to distinguish the secure and reliable businesses from the riskyones. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard was created in a joint effortby the major credit card companies: American Express, Visa, MasterCard and Discoverto monitor and develop the PCI standard. Consumers who use credit/debit cards onlineto purchase products or services risk suffering financial losses when businessesprocess their transactions through systems which are not secure. The PCI standardaims to stop the cause of online financial and identity theft from its source byensuring the systems which process and store customer details are secure.

The Compliance Regulations The PCI compliance specification describes a set of requirements which participatingbusinesses must observe to ensure that correct measures are taken to secure alldata, both internal and externally exposed. The Acunetix PCI Compliance Guidedescribes the following categories in detail:

1. Secure Network Design and Maintenance2. Cardholder Data Protection3. Vulnerability Management Program Maintenance4. Strong Access Control Measures Implementation5. Regular Network Testing and Monitoring6. Information Security Policy Maintenance

Security Assessment ToolsAll businesses which apply the PCI compliance procedure must use the services ofapproved companies to perform compliance security scans. The results of these scansare issued in detailed compliance reports which are then used for approval by thespecific card company requirements. The PCI Compliance specification is more thanjust a rule-set to which organizations must abide. It is also a guideline whichprovides a method to trace and secure all the potential security flaws which mightbe exploited. Detecting these potential exploits is made easier by using tools suchas web vulnerability scanners and network scanners.

The PCI Compliance Guide is available at:http://www.acunetix.com/we bsitesecurity/PCI-Compliance.p df

About Acunetix Web Vulnerability ScannerAcunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner ensures website security by automaticallychecking for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities. Itchecks password strength on authentication pages and automatically audits shoppingcarts, forms, dynamic content and other web applications. As the scan is beingcompleted, the software produces detailed reports that pinpoint wherevulnerabilities exist. Acunetix WVS Reporting Application allows security alerts tobe presented in a document which abides by the PCI specification.

About Acunetix Acunetix was founded to combat the alarming rise in web attacks. Its flagshipproduct, Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner, is the result of several years ofdevelopment by a team of highly experienced security developers. Acunetix is aprivately held company with headquarters based in Europe (Malta), a US office inSeattle, Washington and an office in London, UK. For more information aboutAcunetix, visit: http://www.acunetix.com; http://www.acunetix.de.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information:Please email Tamara Borg: tamara@acunetix.com

Source: Express-Press-Release.com

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