PCI simply stands for payment card industry. This financial industry segment includes all the various organisations responsible for storing, processing, and transmitting cardholder data. This includes both debit cards and credit cards.
PCI is frequently used in conjunction with a secondary acronym, DSS. Together, they stand for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, a set of recommended practices ensuring cardholder information is handled securely. PCI DSS regulations cover how businesses should transmit and store this sensitive data with a set of guidelines for payment processors to follow. The standards also apply to any developers or manufacturers creating new payment processing devices.