an information security standard used to handle credit cards from major card brands.

A payment card number, primary account number, or simply a card number, is the card identifier found on payment cards, such as credit cards and debit cards, as well as stored-value cards, gift cards and other similar cards.

The payment card industry denotes the debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards and associated businesses.

formed by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard and Visa Inc. on September 7, 2006, with the goal of managing the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.