When visitors enter the new Council website at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org, in addition to continuing to the existing English language site, they will now be given the option to view information in one of eight languages: French, French (Canadian), German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese. Once on the selected site, visitors can review standards materials and supporting documentation on the PCI DSS and PA-DSS and information on the Council, all in their native language.

"Payment security is a global issue and organizations around the world are taking action to secure cardholder data. The PCI Security Standards Council is committed to providing for the needs of both multinational and local companies with native language resources," said Bob Russo, general manager of the Council. "By helping companies access PCI Standards in their own language, the SSC continues our mission of increasing awareness of PCI Standards as key tools to secure cardholder data globally."

In the last year, the Council welcomed a significant increase in international participation, including:

* 26 percentage increase in Participating Organizations based outside of the United States
* 8 percent increase in attendance in the European Community Meeting, the Council's annual gathering of stakeholders
* New PCI SSC Standards Training sessions conducted in international locations, including Australia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom and Canada
* Media interviews and speaking engagements in 14 countries

"With the introduction of this micro site, we are redoubling the Council's efforts to educate globally, and making critical, native language resources and materials available to further help organizations protect and safeguard their sensitive payment information," said Russo. "This is an important move to benefit our global stakeholders and we will continue to build out our international capabilities and multilingual educational materials ovrials over the year ahead."