What are the data protection standards that a financial organization must follow to protect transactions?

The correct answer is based on the critical need for financial organizations to adhere to specific standards that ensure the security and protection of payment card transactions. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is specifically designed for this purpose. It outlines the necessary criteria that organizations handling credit and debit card information must follow to protect that data from theft and breaches.

PCI DSS encompasses various security measures, including encryption, access control, and monitoring, all tailored to safeguard financial data during transactions. Compliance with PCI DSS is not only a best practice but often a legal requirement for any organization involved in processing card payments.

In contrast, while the other options represent important standards and frameworks in their fields, they do not specifically address the needs of financial organizations in the way that PCI DSS does. For instance, CSA STAR is focused on cloud security, CIS Benchmarks provide best practices for securing various systems, and CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a process improvement framework, which, while valuable, does not specifically target transaction data protection in the financial sector.