[April 10, 2012]

Toronto Payment Card Industry (PCI) Conference Convenes Dialog on PCI-DSS Compliance

PCI (News - Alert) Logic and Vigilant, Inc. announce a conference to be held in Toronto on May 7^th to promote collaborative exchange between US and Canadian organizations struggling to achieve best practices for Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance. The conference, organized by PCI Logic and endorsed by the Financial Management Institute of Canada, will be held at the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Toronto and will feature keynote addresses by Kris Herrin, Chief Technology Officer at Heartland Payment Systems and Nick Galleto, National Leader, Information and Technology Risk Services, Deloitte (News - Alert) Canada. The diverse body of participants and speakers will bring together representatives from credit card companies, consulting organizations, retailers, financial institutions, and a range of organizations whose business requires them to demonstrate the security of credit card transactions.

The conference will include sessions on executive challenges, strategic partnerships, global security trends, and enabling technologies and emerging trends, including cloud computing. Organizations can register for this interactive session with industry leaders at http://www.pcilogic.ca.

The PCI Canada Conference 2012 grew out of an initiative originally sponsored by the Ministry of Finance in British Columbia, Canada, which has held a series of similar events for the purpose of assisting government entities to achieve compliance with the PCI-DSS standard, which had been adopted in Canada in 2006. "With all levels of Canadian merchants now subject to demonstrate PCI compliance, that series of events generated an outcry from the private secto for inclusion," says Nicholas Krischanowsky, Partner, PCI Logic. "A steady stream of data breaches - including the most recent breach of Global Payment Systems - underscores the urgency, no matter which side of the border you're on. Canadian and US companies alike face regulatory pressure and the corporate responsibility to provide better protection of consumer information, but are challenged to do this in the context of tight budgets, complex business and technological environments, and shortage of expertise. Through the sharing of best practices, we hope to make the road easier for all conference attendees."

"It is critical to do everything we can in both the Canadian public and private sectors to elevate data security practices across the board. We enthusiastically support this initiative," said Don Singer, Managing Director of the Financial Management Institute of Canada.

Joseph Magee, Chief Technology Officer of Vigilant, Inc., helps organizations track PCI-related and other security controls through IT security monitoring solutions. "Years of wrangling," he says, "with PCI in the US have led practitioners to some important conclusions - particularly about the risk of viewing the achievement of compliance as a one-time event. Given the rapid changes in today's complex IT environments, and constant advancements in the anatomy of malicious behavior, it's critical that organizations take a continuous risk-based approach to ensure their security and monitoring controls are able to meet the challenge of the changing threat landscape. We look forward to joining with the other contributors to share what we've learned."

About PCI Logic

PCI Logic provides consulting services to government and private sector organizations on Payment Card Industry (PCI) governance, strategy development, and remediation execution. Organizations embarking on PCI compliance are facing many challenges, including: the many business and technical approaches available; choosing the optimal strategy prior to selecting a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA); and, driving efforts for achieving compliance. The team at PCI Logic has helped government, retail, insurance, and utilities with creative strategies and practical execution to pave the way to a successful PCI Report on Compliance and sustainment programs. PCI Logic also promotes best practices and strategies amongst merchants, regulators, and service providers in the PCI community, given the prevalence of cyber security threats and emerging technology trends through their conference events.

About Vigilant

Vigilant Inc. provides managed services, threat intelligence, and IT risk consulting services that help IT security teams better defend and enable today's dynamic business by refining and extending their security monitoring capabilities. The company's pragmatic approach solves today's urgent security problems, while enabling rapid progress toward longer-term security program objectives. Vigilant empowers customers to more efficiently respond to shifting threats, achieve regulatory compliance, prioritize protection of services that drive revenue and competitive advantage, and measure progress of the overall IT risk management program. Founded in 2003, Vigilant is headquartered in the New York metro area and serves a wide range of global and regional organizations whose mission requires them to secure highly sensitive and regulated services.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]