The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard was created in 2004 by major credit card companies - American Express, Discover Financial, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa International - to provide security and privacy for customers’ credit card data and personal information. The PCI standard sets specific guidelines for the storage, processing, and transmittal of all associated data in order to protect cardholders from identity theft.

PCI compliance is mandatory for all merchants that store, process, or transmit credit card data through retail stores, mail order, telephone order, and online sites. Retailers that are not in compliance are subject to fines or suspension of credit card processing privileges. Therefore, retailers must carefully plan, deploy, maintain, and test all network components, servers, and applications connected to cardholder information.

This white paper provides an overview of security threats in a wireless LAN (WLAN) environment, many of which go unnoticed. It discusses how HP ProCurve can help you deploy a secure and managed Wi-Fi infrastructure that can defend itself against wireless threats and help you comply with PCI guidelines.