The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a mandatory requirement for any business who takes card payments. It’s a set of 12 mandatory requirements from the Card Schemes designed to ensure that all companies that process, store or transmit card information maintain a secure environment and help businesses reduce the risk of loss.
Put simply, the PCI DSS is about helping reduce the risk of card payment information held by customers, or their third parties, from being used fraudulently and the consequential financial and reputational losses associated with this.