5 Major Concequences of PCI DSS Non-Compliance

Your organization may not process that many credit card transactions annually, so you as an owner may choose to not put the time and effort towards becoming PCI Compliant. But this could be a major mistake.

We've previously talked about what is PCI DSS, the benefits of being compliant, and the cost of compliance. In this blog, we wanted to highlight the fact that regardless of how many credit card transactions you process, organizations that choose to be non-compliant to PCI DSS can face severe consequences.

Below are 5 major ones that your organization can avoid should they become PCI compliant. 

Monetary Fines

Being PCI non-compliant can lead to your organization facing fines from payment processors. Fines can range from 5000 to 100,000 a month. Penalties are decided based on the volume of customers and transactions. Even if your organization is compliant with PCI DSS you can still suffer the cost of a data breach; however, payment card companies may significantly lower or eliminate fines if they discover that your organization has taken every step towards compliance with the data security standard.

Legal action

PCI DSS requirements are not a part of Australia’s legislation, but they are an industry standard, and any cardholder data breaches resulting from your negligence can land you in court facing severe legal action. 

Permanent damage to reputation and a loss in trust

Allowing cardholder data to be lost via a data breach while being PCI non compliant can greatly impact your business’s reputation. Once your organization has lost its customers' trust it can be almost impossible to gain it back, therefore it is important to do everything you can to safeguard their sensitive data. 

Data breaches & Revenue loss

In 2013, Target was sentenced to $18.5 million for a data breach that affected more than 41 million consumers, leading to a $440-million-loss of revenue only in the first quarter after the breach. Events like these can lead to a loss in clients which would in-turn impact your business’s overall revenue. 

Federal audits

Being PCI non-compliant can open your business up to repeated federal audits. In the event of a data breach, a forensic audit will be carried out to check if the breach was due to non-compliance or other security related failures.. The cost of the forensic examiner is the responsibility of the organization that suffers the breach. Audits like this can waste the time and money of organizations that are not PCI compliant. 

Is your business looking to get PCI DSS compliant? StickmanCyber's PCI DSS compliance service deploys a 5-step methodology to help you build trust with your customers and guarantee secure transactions with PCI DSS Compliance.