PCI DSS compliance is an ongoing process of assessing potential vulnerabilities that could lead to cardholder data exposure, remediating identified vulnerabilities, and reporting compliance results. Only QSAs are authorized to conduct the audits, as these organizations are certified by the PCI Council to know their data security standards. PCI DSS v4.0 The 2018 deadline means, among other things, that measures previously considered best practices must now be validated by organizations. For example, service providers must, at a minimum, conduct quarterly reviews of employees responsible for ensuring compliance with their organization’s security policies and procedures.
Access to facilities should be controlled so that only authorized individuals have access and should be revoked in a timely manner upon termination. If your business is a merchant involved in processing payment card transactions, then the rules apply to your business and your business must comply with the PCI Data Security Standard to protect cardholder data. Although PCI DSS is not required by federal law, several states have adopted PCI DSS or other similar protections as a requirement. PCI DSS 12 requirements are a set of security controls that organizations must implement to protect credit card data and comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. The main objective of the PCI DSS audit is to verify an organization’s ability to protect cardholder data and all systems that interact with payment transactions.
Although PCI DSS certification is not required by law, the council has the authority to levy fines, increase transaction fees or terminate a merchant’s contract if it fails to meet the requirements. The standards apply to businesses of all sizes and are divided into four tiers based on the value of transactions processed per year. There is never a finish line when establishing a secure environment for cardholder data while complying with the PCI Security Standard requirements. Security infrastructures and policies must be constantly maintained, software systems updated, vulnerabilities scanned and patched. PCI DSS compliance is divided into two categories – merchant and service provider – with different levels depending on the number of annual credit card transactions. If your business handles transactions with a major credit card company such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover, you must comply with PCI data security standards.
This requirement relates to role-based access control, which grants access to card data and systems on a need-to-know basis. If a company complies with PCI DSS requirements on an ongoing basis and can effectively protect cardholder data by maintaining a secure cardholder data environment, it is PCI compliant. How your organization verifies its PCI compliance depends on the number of transactions you process per year. Failure to comply with PCI DSS could be a very costly mistake, especially if credit card data breaches occur.
Penalties for failing to comply with these security standards range from hefty fines to revocation of authorization to process credit card data, which can be detrimental to any business that relies on this method of customer payment. Like many other compliance programs, these PCI standards are designed to ensure that providers are more stable and secure, leading to a more reliable payment card industry overall. The PCI DSS ensures that you, your fellow merchants, and all stakeholders in the credit card industry adhere to a rigorous industry standard for security. The PCI DSS was developed to help the industry prevent the theft of cardholder data and reduce fraud in the payment card industry. The controls required to comply with the PCI DSS are also similar to the controls that help meet the criteria of a Systems and Organizational Controls 2 assessment. Although a SOC 2 assessment is broader in scope than the PCI DSS standards, not all requirements to meet the criteria of a SOC 2 assessment are also required for PCI DSS compliance.
Today, all companies that store, process or transmit sensitive cardholder data must meet PCI DSS requirements. 1.Due to the sensitivity of credit card data, you must hire a qualified security assessor approved by the PCI Security Standards Council to conduct your audit. The QSA will begin by assessing your security infrastructure, including procedures, policies, networks, and systems. The QSA will then provide you with a risk assessment that lays the foundation for improving the security of your data. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a security standard that applies to companies that process credit card transactions.
You must comply with PCI if your business collects, transmits, manages, or routes card data, regardless of the value or number of transactions or the size of your business. In other words: If credit card information comes into contact with your secure network at any point, you must comply with these PCI standards. If your company accepts, processes, transmits or stores payment card data, PCI DSS standards apply to your business.
PCI DSS compliance is an essential part of the security protocol for credit card companies. In the event of a security breach, additional penalties are imposed on any affected entity that was not in compliance at the time of the breach. The PCI DSS consists of a set of six objectives that are achieved by meeting twelve requirements for merchants that accept, process, transmit, or store payment card data. In 2004, the major payment card companies came together to set minimum security standards that merchants must meet to prevent theft of cardholder data and to prevent and reduce credit card fraud. The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council was formed a few years later, in 2006, as the governing body to further shape and develop the PCI DSS. The current version of the PCI DSS is 3.2.1, which was released in May 2018. A PCI DSS audit is a way to determine if your data storage and security management systems meet PCI DSS standards.
