Understanding PCI DSS Compliance for File Transfer

One of the best chances that businesses have to prevent a catastrophic (and costly) data breach involves making sure that they remain compliant in the digital age. Maintaining compliance means paying close attention to not only file security, but privacy at the same time. Understanding PCI DSS compliance for file transfer always involves keeping a few key things in mind.

What is PCI DSS Compliance File Transfer?

At its core, PCI DSS is a set of requirements governing the security of account data. This can include account numbers, cardholder names for credit cards and other forms of payment information, expiration dates for the same types of payment information and more. These requirements are necessary for the healthcare and financial services industries, in particular, where a data breach could potentially result in irreparable damage to a business' reputation, identity theft and other forms of damage.

How to Remain PCI DSS Compliant

In order to protect both your business and your customers from cyber threats, you need to take a close look at all of your integral system components and make sure that they are PCI DSS compliant. System components can be broken down into a few distinct categories depending on exactly what you're talking about.

Network components, for example, refers to all switches, routers and other hardware in your infrastructure that connects your devices to the Internet. Applications would involve any software that you use to store or access this type of information, including all applications that you've purchased and any apps that you've built in-house. All servers also need to remain compliant, including file transfer servers, Web servers, database servers and others that you and your team use on a daily basis.

FTP Today and PCI DSS Compliance File Transfer

FTP Today is a secure file sharing solution that offers multiple ways to stay compliant and remain protected in the digital age. All FTP Today servers are located within a data center in the United States that is highly secure and those FTP servers also live within a cloud infrastrcuture that is both PCI compliant and VISA certified. All FTP sites are also hosted behind hardware and software firewalls for advanced protection. With FTP Today, you also have the added benefit of being able to require your users to connect to your FTP site using encrypted protocols with no exceptions.

These are just a few of the many reasons why PCI DSS compliance file transfer is so important. The type of data breach that struck Sony Pictures in 2014, for example, is expected to cost almost one hundred million dollars when everything is said and done. These are the types of chances that even the largest businesses can no longer afford to take.

Key Takeaways:

• Maintaining compliance moving forward is one of the best chances that businesses have to prevent a data breach that could end up costing them millions of dollars.
• FTP Today, in particular, is a file sharing solution that offers multiple safeguards to protect information for people in the healthcare and financial services industries, among others.

Learn how FTP Today handles compliance regulations with PCI-DSS in this readiness guide.