The PA-DSS Protects E-Commerce Users
Over the past several years, Internet security has become quite a powerful discussion topic for online businesses as well as their customers.  With the advent of online banking, shopping and bill payment, the amount of confidential data shared on the Internet is constantly increasing exponentially.  As these online services multiply, it is becoming more and more imperative to confirm that sites engaging in e-commerce activities (including businesses utilizing online shopping carts such as Miva Merchant) are compliant with the PA-DSS.

PA-DSS, or the Payment Application Data Security Standard, is based on the Payment Application Best Practices (PABP) of Visa.  The PABP was first introduced in 2005 in order to aid in the creation of secure online payment applications by software vendors.  The PA-DSS was released in 2008 with the purpose of establishing all requirements that e-commerce merchants who utilize business web hosting services must follow in order to process credit card payments.  Miva Merchant 5.5’s online shopping cart software is completely up to date with all PA-DSS compliancy conditions.  These days, any online merchant must be able to prove that they are compliant with all PCI and PA-DSS prerequisites.

The Importance of PCI Compliance
The PCI in PCI compliance stands for Payment Card Industry.  The PCI was formed when each of the five major credit card companies (Discover, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and JCB) banded together to establish the guidelines online businesses must follow to accept credit card payments.  The PCI then composed the PA-DSS as the primary means to combat fraud and establish a sense of trust and security on the Internet.

ControlScan is the leading vendor of PCI compliance for small to medium-sized businesses.  They provide PCI services as well as SSL Certificates for sites engaging in e-commerce activities.  SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates encrypt private data and must be used by any site accepting payment information, addresses, social security numbers or any other confidential information as documented by the PA-DSS.  The services provided by ControlScan are essential in developing a sense of trust between merchant and shopper.

PA-DSS and Miva Merchant Hosting
ControlScan has developed a strategic partnership with Miva Merchant to provide all-inclusive PCI compliance and security across any and all sites utilizing Miva Hosting.  Websites that use ControlScan’s services receive a seal from the company notifying customers that they are protected.  Generally, after posting this seal on their site, businesses will see profits from sales increase due to the sense of trust produced by the seal.

Since May 2009, companies using Miva Merchant as their shopping cart software are using the SaaS (software as a service) model.  For many years, Miva was working with a broken business model.  They had been providing technical support for software that was released many years ago.  Essentially, they were losing money because of this issue.  They did not have the time or means to support outdated software that was purchased for a flat rate in the distant past.  Therefore, they were obligated to switch to the SaaS model.

In other words, they did not have time to work for free and decided to add a monthly maintenance fee in order for storeowners to obtain a Miva license.  This fee is usually passed from the host down to the client.  Obviously, this price hike angered some clients but it was necessary in order to make sure that sites using older versions of the software could be PCI compliant.  This is the primary reason that Miva adopted the SaaS model for calculating license fees with their new product – Miva Merchant 5 and decided to offer free upgrades from older editions to the updated version 5.5.

Only Trust E-Commerce Sites that are PCI Compliant
Online business operators have the responsibility of making their sites PCI / PA-DSS compliant in order to protect their customers from those with malicious intent.  In this day and age, stealing private and confidential information is big business for hackers.  Identity theft is such a growing concern and those involved in the operation of e-commerce sites are accountable for making certain that their sites are secure.

Establishing trust is crucial to those conducting business online.  If customer data is compromised, they will lose credibility, trust and business.  Nowadays, they could even face severe fines.  Furthermore, the major credit card companies report losing more than $1 billion per year to credit card fraud.  Therefore, ensuring that consumers are protected under the PA-DSS is a major concern for them too.

In order for sites to be PCI and PA-DSS compliant, operators must be educated on proper Internet security tactics.  They are also required to maintain a totally secure network with appropriate firewall and password protection.   Additionally, it is obligatory for them to properly encrypt all of their patrons’ personal data with the appropriate SSL Certificates.

Moreover, ensuring that the merchant’s network is virus-free, anti-virus software is routinely updated and security systems are regularly tested are some other obligatory principles covered by the PCI and PA-DSS compliancy guidelines.

Online storeowners must guarantee that they are operating with a protected, PCI and PA-DSS compliant network by using a secure shopping cart such as Miva Merchant 5.5.  If a site is found to be non-compliant, they could be fined anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 per month.  Internet protection is crucial to all sites on the web – from clients with small basic web hosting accounts to the largest retailers, banks or utility companies.  No matter the size or amount of sales generated, establishing trust and security online is a must for all those who wish to be successful in the realm of e-commerce.

Tags: Basic Web Hosting, Biz Hosting, business web hosting, E-Commerce Hosting, Ecommerce, Miva Hosting, Miva Merchant, PA-DSS Compliance, PCI Compliance, Shopping Cart, SSL, WebNetHosting

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 9:44 am and is filed under Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.