tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5803106625832520676.post-79536638112762028962009-03-15T14:13:00.000-07:002009-05-09T08:47:14.869-07:00If your a developer who maintains a software application that accepts credit card payments you may be wondering how to make your program <a href="http://www,paymentcardindustry.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">PCI</span></span> compliant.</a> Your not alone, every piece of software that accepts credit card payments or stores credit card numbers is now forced to become <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">PCI</span></span> complaint or be fined. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">PCI</span></span> or the Payment Card Industry regulates the storing and transmission of credit card numbers.<br /><br /><strong>Your options</strong><br />There are two ways to become <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">PCI</span></span> compliant.<br />1. Subject your software application to a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">PCI</span></span> audit. Representatives from the Payment Card Industry will review your application and make recommendations for the storage and transmission of credit card data. The audit will be intensive and costly and will need to be redone annually.<br />2. Rework your application to stop the storage and transmission of credit card numbers. At first this sounds <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">foreign</span> but read on.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Removing the storage and transmission of credit card numbers from your application.</strong><br />Lets say for example you have a software application that accepts rent. Landlords use it on their desktop computers. They select a renter and charge their credit card.<br />We need to remove the portion that stores the credit card and replace it with a payment token. The token is generated when the landlord enters the credit card on a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">PCI</span> certified site from your payment processor. Once you have the token you can store it in your application instead of the credit card number. When your ready to charge the renter you send the token along with the amount. Its that simple, your now <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">PCI</span> complaint.<br /><br /><strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">PCI</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">compliance</span> in a few steps.</strong><br />It doesn't have to cost a fortune to become <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">PCI</span> compliant just a small change your application can make all the difference. Often the change can be made in a way that your customers won't even notice.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5803106625832520676-7953663811276202896?l=www.acceptpayments.org' alt='' /></div>Avaninoreply@blogger.com1