The reality of PCI DSS compliance , however, is slightly more malleable. Despite the efforts of the big card brands -- notably Visa and MasterCard -- to push compliance with the standard, compliance progress amongst UK merchants has been generally quite slow, with many still seeing compliance as a distant goal. One big reason for the slow progress has been the huge costs involved in overhauling systems to make them fit for PCI DSS compliance . But other factors have also been at play, such as a lack of clear guidelines and information. In a new article, published exclusively on SearchSecurity.co.UK, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) -- What it is and its impact on retail merchants (see .pdf below), Martin Bradley and Alexander Dent detail their own research amongst some of the UK's largest merchants. They assess the real costs of becoming compliant, and the biggest hurdles merchants face along the way. Among their findings, they report the real cost of PCI DSS compliance : Many organisations have spent more than 5 million on their PCI DSS projects. They also report high levels of dissatisfaction over the manner in which the standard was introduced and a general view that, in its early versions at least, was much more suited to online retailers than those operating "high street" stores. About the authors: Martin Bradley has worked in information security for 18 years and is currently security assurance and compliance manager at Marks and Spencer, where he is responsible