The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a global standard that was created in 2004 by the five major credit card companies: American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa, Inc. The PCI DSS standard seeks to prevent credit card fraud by requiring the implementation of certain controls and processes by all entities involved in the processing of credit cards. The five founding credit card companies subsequently formed the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) in 2006.

Since the formation of the council and the establishment of the security standard, cardholders have benefited from increased protection of both their personal information as well as their assets. Complying with the standard, however, has proven to be challenging for the entities required to do so. This paper will illustrate how Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops can help these organizations comply with specific PCI DSS mandates, while at the same time increasing overall efficiency and agility.