Who We Are

The PCI Knowledge Base (www.KnowPCI.com ) is the largest an independent research community focused on the security of payment and related financial and personal data.  Our registered membership includes approximately 2000 persons, including retailers, hoteliers, academics, bankers, payment processors, PCI assessors (QSAs), providers of payment systems and security technologists. Our panel of over 85 PCI Experts shares their knowledge and experience through our proprietary research database as well as through our discussion forums and via our PCI Experts Blog.

Our Mission

The PCI Knowledge Base is dedicated to facilitating the exchange of experience and advice relative to the Payment Card Industry security standards and other related data security and privacy laws. Our members include merchants of all levels, as well as security assessors or auditors, and developers of payment processing systems, security products and many different types of service providers.

Our Goal

Provide organized, easily accessible “knols” (which are “units of knowledge,” according to Google) that merchants can use to achieve compliance with the PCI standards, and reduce the risk to all types of confidential data.

About “PCI Knowledge”

The PCI Knowledge that drives this website comes from merchants in any industry, assessors, bankers, card processors, security vendors, and PCI consultants. The Knowledge in the Knowledge Base includes: Advice from other members of the Knowledge Base, as well as Best Practices, Spending Levels and Plans, Lessons Learned, etc.

Panel of Experts

Our Panel of Experts includes PCI assessors, merchants, acquiring banks, card processors, security technologists, PCI consultants and others who have agreed to provide advice to other members of the PCI Knowledge Base. Their email addresses are, in most cases, published to facilitate one-on-one exchanges with other members. Their advice is published and integrated with the PCI Knowledge Base.

Rating the Units of Knowledge

We encourage all members to rate the Units of Knowledge on this website, based on how helpful the knol or item is to you. The process uses a "star system" just like Netflix or YouTube.

Participating in the Knowledge Base

• Review the Items -- You can comment on an item (agree, disagree, etc)
• Recommend items -- You can email individual items to a colleague
• Report a problem -- Let us know about broken links or any other problems with an item or the website
• Favorite items -- You can create a list of "favorite" items which you can use to customize your experience in the Knowledge Base
• Find items from a specific Expert -- Those items attributed to a specific member of our Panel of Experts can be identified.