We continue to hear studies regarding consumers' focus on the security of their online transactions.  Probably once a month a well-known entity has to publicly announce that they have had some type of security breach that may impact the integrity of the personal data of their customers.  TJX is probably the most well-known case in retail of this type of issue.  The impact to their brand has been very clear. 

This can be disastrous for retailers.  This type of event keeps retailers up at night. Add to this fear the compliance standards known as PCI and retailers are tasked with a growing list of requirements to secure their online presence. 

I recently contributed to an article that skims the surface of this topic.  The article can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/midsizebusiness/industries/retaildefense.mspx

Microsoft recently hosted a PCI conference in Redmond that was very well attended.

A primer on PCI can be found here: 

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480484.aspx

Finally, a good whitepaper on PCI planning can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=D8320DF1-D0D0-469F-A6FC-B53987BD74C2&displaylang=en