In short, the function of the PCI vulnerability standards is to create as secure of an environment as possible for you to process credit cards. The PCI council has broken it down into 12 main security requirements that all merchants are supposed to strive for in order to be truly PCI compliant. However, the extents to which the 12 requirements need to be met depend on the number of transactions that a company processes in a year, which are separated into 4 levels.

PCI scanning is another important part of the PCI vulnerability standards and PCI compliance.  You may also have heard it called Vulnerability Scanning.  This is when you have an approved scanning vendor (ASV) scan any and all IP addresses that the public has access to that have to do with your website or the transaction process. This typically includes your websites IP address; however, if you transfer your customers to a third-party shopping cart hosted by your shopping cart provider during the checkout process, then you should include their IP address to be scanned as well.

In short, the PCI vulnerability standards are one of the most important parts of any business these days.  Penalties for not complying can be severe, including enormous fines or possibly the merchant’s loss of the ability to accept credit card payments. So don’t take it lightly.  Besides, when you are in compliance, your customers will know that you have taken the extra steps needed to make your website and business safe, which will result in more sales for you.

Vulnerability Assessment Scanning is just what it sounds like it is.  It is performed by a company that will scan your server looking for any vulnerabilities that might leave a hole where hackers could possibly find a way through.  One of the best parts about vulnerability scanning is not only that it finds any vulnerabilities you may have on your site, but it also ranks those vulnerabilities according to which ones are most dangerous down to the ones that are the least dangerous.  That way you are able to see which ones are a priority and you can figure out a way to fix those vulnerabilites.

Vulnerability scanning is also a great way to assess your website and figure out how much website security you will need as well as which type of website security is best for you.  That way you can not only fix those vulnerabilities that the scan found, but you will also be able to do some preventative work and catch any problems before they can even become a security problem.

Vulnerability Scanning is very popular and a great way of getting a jump start on website security, although they are meant to be paired with some other means of website security and not to be used on their own.  When they are paired with other types of website security they can be very beneficial and a huge asset to your company.

Vulnerability Assessment is related to PCI Scanning in the fact that they both serve basically the same purpose.  They both scan over a subject in order to find any holes in the system that would let any intruders in.  They not only help to find any viruses or bugs you might have in your system now, but their main purpose is to scan your system and find any problem areas and fix them in order to prevent any security issues from happening.

While I was learning about vulnerability assessment I found out how important it is to have something that will find these vulnerabilities for you.   In this day in age it is important to have a third party helping to protect your online business.  There are so many ways to hack into your server and corrupt all that you have worked for and if that isn’t scary enough these hackers are constantly scanning your business looking for holes, and they are constantly finding new ways to get a hold of the sensitive information that is stored on your site.

If you have an online business I would definitely look into getting some type of vulnerability assessment tool such as PCI Scanning to help protect your business.  It would be very beneficial to protect yourself from hackers who are constantly changing their tactics by using a third party who can keep up on the latest things that the hackers are doing and scanning your business in order to prevent any security problems.