As the ShopVisible Ecommerce Security team has been
undergoing its PCI level one assessment we have become quite familiar with the
late David Taylor via his prodigiously informative PCI Knowledge Base. The
Payment Card Industry and the online security community in general lost a true
scholar recently with the unexpected passing of fifty seven year old David
Taylor, formerly of Protegrity and Gartner.
Those familiar with online Ecommerce security and PCI
compliance have likely read posts from Taylor and heard him warmly and
simplistically address the often misunderstood and esoteric realm of online security
in his webinars. For online security laymen, Taylor provided a perspective that
was grounded in data security standards and payment protection. Companies without
large IT infrastructures and the human resources to undertake such projects as PCI
compliance looked to Taylor for instruction on proceeding with security compliance
and for definition of technical elements like File Integrity Monitoring,
Application Firewalls and Penetration Tests.
David Taylor was indeed an expert in a field incomprehensible
to many. In of his most recent posts from the PCI Knowledge Base, Taylor delved
deep into Ecommerce security and organizational management as he addressed how
PCI compliance can coalesce with risk management policy to better protect
Ecommerce firms. His erudite approach to safeguarding online business was
transparent and honest and will be well received for years in the fields of security
compliance and online fraud prevention.