The PCI DSS is a comprehensive set of global security requirements developed by the PCI Security Standards Council in order to safeguard cardholder data worldwide. Bank of Hawaii selected SecurityMetrics' PCI Site Certification Services for Merchants to address merchant data security needs for PCI, helping bank merchants minimize their data security risk exposure, create legally-compliant audit trails and raise customer confidence that card transactions are secure. Bank of Hawaii is rolling out the PCI compliance initiative across its entire merchant portfolio following a successful pilot program.

"Helping our merchants to secure their data and guard against breaches is a priority," said Mel Harada, Bank of Hawaii senior vice president for Merchant Services. "SecurityMetrics provided additional security expertise and a simple process to validate compliance with PCI DSS despite the wide range of technologies and systems our merchants were using."

Bank of Hawaii merchants work directly with SecurityMetrics' compliance analysts to validate PCI DSS. SecurityMetrics' PCI Site Certification Services for Merchants with live 24/7 customer support provides Bank of Hawaii merchants insight into their data security status and risk, accurately matching the merchant business with the right PCI validation requirements and provides proactive strategies to improve merchant data security. Merchants use SecurityMetrics' reporting services to improve their acquiring bank or Independent Service Organization (ISO) visibility into their PCI DSS status.

"SecurityMetrics PCI programs have a proven ability to help banks, such as the Bank of Hawaii, and their merchants minimize the risk of credit card data theft. Our programs deliver a standard way for acquiring banks and ISOs to gain a real-time view of portfolio data security risk at any point in time and accelerate PCI compliance and reporting across their merchant portfolio," said Brad Caldwell, SecurityMetricss' CEO.

SecurityMetrics' PCI compliance programs assist retail merchants who have little to no IT security experience to easily validate and report PCI compliance status according to the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). SecurityMetrics provides Bank of Hawaii merchants with access to a comprehensive PCI compliance program that includes unlimited live technical support 24 x 7, unlimited manual scanning, weekly reminders and consulting services.

With a vast amount of knowledge and expertise in data security and PCI, SecurityMetrics introduced the first mass-merchant compliance model for PCI DSS. This experience in both traditional data security practices and PCI enables SecurityMetrics to add real value to customers and continue to lead the innovations in PCI compliance. Passionate about customer service, SecurityMetrics takes more than 100,000 calls each month from merchants all over the world.

The PCI Security Standards Council administers the PCI DSS standard as an open global forum for ongoing development, enhancement, storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards for payment card data protection. The organization was founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa, Inc.