PCI Scanning is often mistaken for other services or products. In case you don’t already know, PCI Scanning stands for “Payment Card Industry” scanning. It involves having a PCI ASV (Approved Scanning Vendor) scan any and all IP addresses that the public has access to, related to your website or your site’s transaction process. If you take credit cards PCI Compliance is required

Common misconceptions about PCI Scanning

PCI Scanning is not a firewall

PCI Scanning can help protect your website and servers from Hackers, Trojans, and other viruses. However, PCI Scanning is not to be mistaken for a firewall. You should use a firewall in addition to PCI Scanning to compound your level of protection.

PCI Scanning is not an SSL Certificate

PCI Scanning is an external scan that checks your website for vulnerabilities. In contrast, an SSL Certificate transfers encrypted information securely. Although an SSL plays an important role, especially if you deal with sensitive information (credit cards, Social Security Numbers, etc..), it only protects data transferred from your clients’ computer to your website. Although an SSL is essential for securely transferring data, it does not help protect your site from outside attacks.

PCI Scanning is not Anti-virus Software

PCI Scanning is often mistaken as anti-virus software, which it is not. PCI Scanning is an external vulnerability scan, which means that it checks your website from the outside to see if there are any security holes or weak areas where a hacker could get unauthorized access to your data. PCI Scanning is not made to detect or clean files that may already be infected due to a previous breach, but rather to protect this from happening in the first place.

So now that you’ve got the misconceptions cleared up, you probably want to know….

How Do I get PCI Scanning?

Trust Guard has been providing PCI Scanning services for tens of thousands of ecommerce business owners. Trust Guard combines world class PCI Scanning with their leading third-party website verification services. Together, these two features provide the ultimate security, privacy and business verification seals online. Trust Guard is also the only company to offer a Security Scanned Trust Seal, which lets your visitors know your site is safe to shop on. Learn more at trust-guard.com.