Payments glossary

What is PCI DSS compliance?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard that governs how card data must be stored, processed, and transmitted.

Definition

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a set of 12 requirements maintained by the major card brands covering network security, encryption, access control, monitoring, and policy. Any organization that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data must comply.

Merchants are classified into four levels by annual transaction volume. Level 1 (over 6 million transactions) requires an on-site audit by a Qualified Security Assessor; smaller merchants complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ). Using a hosted checkout or iframe fields can reduce a merchant to SAQ A, the simplest form.

Example

An e-commerce store that embeds HL Hunt’s hosted card fields never touches raw card numbers. Its PCI scope drops to SAQ A, a 20-question attestation instead of the 300+ controls in SAQ D.

How HL Hunt handles it

HL Hunt is PCI DSS Level 1 certified. Hosted fields, network tokens, and the vault keep card data out of your systems entirely, and the dashboard pre-fills your annual SAQ.

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Frequently asked questions

Is PCI compliance a law?

It is a contractual requirement enforced by card networks and acquirers rather than a statute, but non-compliance fines and liability for breaches are very real.

What PCI level is my business?

Level 4 is under 20,000 e-commerce transactions a year; Level 3 is 20,000 to 1 million; Level 2 is 1 to 6 million; Level 1 is above 6 million or any merchant that has suffered a breach.

Does using HL Hunt make me PCI compliant?

It dramatically reduces your scope. You still attest annually, but with hosted fields the attestation is SAQ A and takes minutes.

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