Xtraordinary Urges Small Businesses to Ensure PCI DSS Compliance This Christmas

Xtraordinary Urges Small Businesses to Ensure PCI DSS Compliance This Christmas PR Newswire EDINBURGH, Scotland, December 6, 2012 EDINBURGH, Scotland, December 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- With online shopping expected to top £5bn this Christmas, UK-based cloud hosting provider Xtraordinary is reminding British small businesses to review how they are processing, storing or transferring customer card data. st1 December 2012 was the deadline set by Streamline, the UK and Europe's largest card processor, for small and micro businesses to ensure they are Payment Card Industry Standard (PCI DSS) compliant. PCI DSS is a set of mandatory card security protocols, created by a coalition of the major credit card companies, including Visa, MasterCard and Amex. Whilst compliance is not a legal obligation, online traders wishing to handle credit or debit card details are required to achieve PCI DSS compliance as part of their merchant agreement with card vendors and processors. Andrew Ogilvie, Managing Director of Xtraordinary Hosting, says: "Non-compliance may be met with fines, losses arising from fraud or negligence and ultimately a termination of the merchant agreement and the loss of customer confidence. There is also an increased risk from cybercrime attacks, which fundamentally PCI DSS compliance is designed to prevent. According to Verizon's 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report, 95% of breaches happen to retailers with less than 100 employees.