If you’re in PCI pain, here’s how you can get some relief.

By Reported Donna Loyle

Why was PCI instituted? It’s intended to help protect both consumers and merchants from data-security breaches. Its purpose is to unveil to merchants the vulnerabilities in their credit card processing methods, and to encourage them to fix such problems before hackers and criminals discover them.

Is the auditing process mandatory? Yes, for all merchant levels except Level 4, which is done at the discretion of the merchant’s acquiring bank, says Bob Botelle, vice president of customer service at Litle & Co., Lowell, Mass.