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The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council announces Board of Advisors nominations and Special Interest Groups opportunities; dates set for PCI Community Meetings

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council announces Board of Advisors nominations and Special Interest Groups opportunities; dates set for PCI Community Meetings

 

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has announced opportunities for PCI community to participate in the 2013-2015 Board of Advisors election process, new PCI Special Interest Groups (SIG) and the 2013 PCI Community Meetings.

 

The global industry standards body is responsible for the development of payment card security standards. But it relies on the involvement of more than 650 participating organisations (PO) to help provide strong technical standards and resources for card security.

 

Board of Advisors nominations

 

This year, the Council will seat a new Board of Advisors consisting of 21 individuals that represent the PCI community by providing counsel and strategic and technical input to SSC leadership.

 

The nomination period opened 27 January and will run through February 25. A voting period will follow on 7 March to 5 April, and the board will be formally seated in May to serve a two-year term. Any PO can self-nominate for 14 places by putting forward one representative through the application form on the PO portal. An additional seven, appointed by the PCI SSC Executive Committee to ensure diversity, will be drawn from financial institutions (acquirers and issuers), payment processors, merchants (e.g. retailers) and others (e.g. technology vendors, industry associations and service providers).

 

Protecting card data worldwide

 

"As a global organisation, representation from EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa], North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific on the Board of Advisors is critical for understanding and addressing the challenges in protecting cardholder data worldwide," said Bob Russo, PCI Security Standards Council general manager.

 

He also said the diverse mix of perspectives and expertise from the outgoing board provide feedback and advice that has been instrumental in the Council's ongoing efforts to address key issues such as mobile payment acceptance security, and proper installation of payment applications through the new Qualified Integrators and Resellers (QIR) programme.

 

Special Interest Groups

 

A recent SIG election process saw the PO community select ‘Third-Party Security Assurance’ and ‘Best Practices for Maintaining PCI DSS Compliance’ as the two topics to pursue in 2013. These PCI community-led projects began addressing specific areas or security challenges in relation to the PCI Standards with kick-off meetings in January.

 

POs and members of the assessment community interested in joining a SIG can read more information about the goals and charter for each group, as well as sign up online, here.

 

Annual community meetings

 

In addition to the board elections and SIG kick-off, the Council has announced dates for its annual PCI community meetings. This year the Council is adding to its two regular North America and European Community Meetings with a third one in the Asia Pacific region.

 

The meetings are designed to provide the opportunity for global leaders representing a breadth of industries and geographies to come together and discuss the latest updates and challenges in payment card security.