In the past, credit card companies have developed and maintained their own data security programs to protect cardholder data. Visa CISP, MasterCard SDP and American Express Data Security Operating Policy (DSOP) are examples of such programs. In December 2004, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards - a comprehensive set of data security requirements - were adopted by all major credit card companies. These standards replace companies' individual programs and bring to the industry a consistent set of standards for data security.

The purpose of the PCI Data Security Standards is to ensure that all financial institutions, merchants, e-commerce companies, and their agents and service providers are employing basic security standards to protect and secure all credit cardholder data. More specifically, organizations are responsible for having the necessary security policy, systems and auditing infrastructure in place to protect and secure the strict privacy of credit card and customer data throughout the entire transaction process.

Protegrity delivers solutions for organizations looking for a comprehensive solution to accelerate compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards.

Protecting data - Protegrity Data Protection System (DPS) is an encryption and hashing software product that provides organizations with a security solution that protects credit card information from all reasonable threats - internal and external. With Protegrity DPS, companies can meet PCI compliance by defining, monitoring, and managing security policies across the enterprise; by defining and monitoring levels of data access; and by protecting data from 'super user' access. Protegrity DPS is superior to other data encryption offerings based on these key criteria:

• Comprehensiveness - Protegrity DPS handles database and file encryption more efficiently than other available solutions. It provides the ability to establish and manage centralized security policies, to protect and manage encryption keys, and to meet auditing requirements.
• Performance and Scalability - Protegrity DPS has the fastest throughput in the industry. Leveraging the power of the existing infrastructure, it utilizes the processing power of each server it protects. It is multi-threaded and has load-balancing capabilities, maximizing the efficiency and scaling with the computing power available. The result: your data is tightly protected with minimal impact on existing systems.
• Security to match your business needs - With Protegrity DPS, you can focus security on only the most sensitive data, at the file, application or database level.
• Full Audit & Reporting - Protegrity DPS gives your organization unmatched insight into who is accessing, or attempting to access, your most sensitive information.
• Enterprise-wide deployment - Protegrity DPS is the only solution available that gives your company centralized management of policies and market-leading support for all databases and operating systems (including mainframe systems).