It is imperative for e-commerce storeowners to make their sites PCI Compliant by ensuring that they follow all the guidelines and submit the proper forms to the “Payment Card Industry.”  The PCI was formed to make certain the e-commerce world is operating in a safe environment and that all customers are being properly protected from hackers.  Thanks to the PCI Compliance rules, a sense of trust and security has been created between customer and business in the online world.  The PCI was formed by the major credit card companies and includes experts from Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and JCB.nThere are now a new set of rules entitled the PA-DSS, which stands for Payment Application – Data Security Standard and by July 2010, all online merchants must be compliant with these standards.  Since Internet security is taken very seriously these days, there are rather hefty fines for non-compliance.  These fines can range anywhere from $5,000-$100,000 per month for sites in violation of the PCI Compliance guidelines.  The guidelines include rules that protect the customer by requiring businesses to make sure their networks are secure, virus-free, encrypting personal data and regularly tested to ensure security.nIf you are planning on opening an online business or are already an online storeowner then you can make sure your business is properly PCI Compliant by going to http://www.pcicomplianceguide.org and reading through all of the rules and submitting the proper forms.  If you utilize the Miva Merchant 5.5 online shopping cart software then your site will be guaranteed PCI Compliant since the newest version of this shopping cart is compliant with the PCI and PA-DSS rules.nIn order to provide its clients with superior service, Miva Merchant has teamed with ControlScan, a leader in the PCI Compliance and Business Web Hosting security markets.  ControlScan makes sure that all businesses are operating under the rules of the PCI Compliance guidelines.  This can be a daunting task for online merchants since the rules are constantly changing. nTo learn more about PCI Compliance and the new PA-DSS, read this article.nForrest Yingling is the Marketing Director for Webnet Hosting, a premier provider of Miva Hosting.