Recommendations to Help You Build, Manage, and Report Your PCI DSS Compliance
The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has created more than 250 technical and operational requirements to protect credit card data known as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).
PCI DSS standards form a comprehensive cybersecurity framework and outline best practices your organization should implement to protect sensitive cardholder data from being stolen and misused by attackers.
If your organization accepts, stores, processes, or transmits credit card information, you are subject to compliance.
Whether you’re new to PCI compliance or you’re wanting to streamline and mature your existing framework and procedures, you’ll find this page a great resource for all of your PCI DSS needs.
A cybersecurity framework management solution can help you create, manage, track, and report on PCI DSS compliance measures with ease.
Learn MoreWith more than 251 sub-controls, meeting PCI standards is challenging. This guide outlines how to develop a framework and mature your program.
Learn MoreRegardless of industry, if your organization accepts, stores, processes, or transmits credit card information, you are subject to PCI compliance.
Learn MoreTo achieve PCI DSS compliance your organization must follow and meet all of these 12 controls established by PCI SSC.
Learn MoreWhile individual payment card companies set PCI compliance regulations, PCI SSC offers recommendations on ways to meet compliance objectives.
Learn MorePCI DSS and NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework have a common goal—to protect sensitive card data and improve data security.
Learn MoreAll PCI DSS merchants are categorized into four compliance levels based on transaction volume during a 12-month time period.
Learn MoreWondering how to begin your PCI compliance journey? Check out “Quick Tips for PCI Compliance” and other blogs for support.
Learn MoreWith 12 requirements and hundreds of sub-controls, prep for a PCI assessment is extensive. Check out “Secrets to Passing a Cybersecurity Audit” for help.
Learn MoreHave any questions about PCI DSS compliance? This PCI frequently asked questions resource is a great place to start.
Learn MoreSearching for tools, guidance, and assistance with PCI DSS? Try the PCI Marketplace.
Learn MoreApptega unites your people, processes, technologies and vendors—in one place—to help you manage your PCI compliance framework with ease.
Learn More
PCI has almost 100 security elements, or 100 separate projects, that should be documented, staffed, managed, and solved all together. Apptega is a cybersecurity framework helps you organize your entire program—who’s accountable, what your policies are, when you need to complete tasks, how much you’re spending, and if you’re on track, including real-time scoring down to the sub-control level.
Companies across all industries use Apptega to implement and report PCI DSS compliance. With ever-changing regulations and evolving business conditions, Apptega will help be prepared for your next audit and customer inquiries.
Meeting or exceeding PCI DSS shows your customers, partners, and insurers that you have a robust program to protect cardholder data.
Your organization can emphasize how well you meet these compliance standards by completing an assessment from an independent qualified security assessor (QSA) who can certify that your organization’s existing security procedures meet framework requirements. An approved scanning vendor (ASV) can validate if your vulnerability scan practices meet PCI scan requirements.
If you successfully meet those requirements, your organization can receive an Attestation of Compliance report, which you must review each year.
If you are not required to submit a Report on Compliance (ROC), you can complete a self-assessment questionnaire to self-assess how well you’re meeting compliance standards.
Failing to meet PCI compliance standards can have a range of negative consequences including significant financial penalties, potential risk of data breaches, and damage to your brand and reputation.
You can easily build, manage, and report your PCI DSS compliance procedures and overall cybersecurity program within a cybersecurity management software solution like Apptega. Say goodbye to complex GRCs, spreadsheets, and word processing documents and say hello to a single program that will enable you to map all your cybersecurity frameworks in one place.
Here’s a quick overview of how it works:
When cyber criminals began targeting credit card data in the late 1990s, industry professionals quickly understood they needed to work together to create standards to help protect this sensitive data from would-be attackers. From there, the idea of a credit card security framework was borne.
The first version of the PCI DSS framework unveiled in 2001 was representative of cybersecurity frameworks used by a variety of companies in the credit card industry. The most recent version, represents a unification of the industry’s technical and operational requirements to protect cardholder data.
There are 12 core requirements and 251 sub-controls that comprise PCI DSS, including:
Managing PCI DSS compliance is challenging. With more than 12 requirements and 251 sub-controls, many organizations just aren’t sure where to begin. Others have built their programs from scratch and struggle with updates, improvements, gap analyses, and responding to audits because they lack consistency and reliability with how they document their compliance procedures.
If your organization still uses a complex GRC, spreadsheets, or static word processing documents to manage your PCI compliance framework, you may feel frustrated and inefficient. But you don’t have to.
"A cybersecurity management platform can help your organization—large or small—more accurately and efficiently report on PCI DSS compliance, whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been managing PCI since its release." - Billy Norwood,
In this video demo, you’ll learn more about how a cybersecurity framework solution can help you:
Leap Credit LLC provides a variety of credit services for customers, including tools that enable clients to quickly apply for and get approval on short-term loans. The company’s loan management platform can write loans within six seconds and can fund those loans within five minutes. In less than a year, the company grew from operating in one state to eight.
With that quick growth, the company was suddenly required to comply with a broad range of regulatory standards, including Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, and prove it had proper controls in place to meet all of those standards.
Want to learn how they did it? Download the Leap Credit case study for the full story.
Regardless of industry, if your organization accepts, stores, processes, or transmits credit card information, you are subject to PCI compliance. Based on the industry you’re in, here are a few ways a cybersecurity and compliance platform can help you manage your PCI DSS compliance framework:
Maintain your professional reputation while keeping your clients’ financial data secure.
Cyber-attacks on the healthcare industry are on the rise, so provide your patients with peace of mind with PCI-compliant data security standards.
Nonprofit agencies process thousands of credit cards per year, so it’s crucial to include PCI DSS compliance standards in your overall security program.
Demonstrate that your company maintains the highest standards for financial data security.
Protect your brand and reputation by ensuring you’re protecting your customers’ credit card information.
Receive and maintain credit card data with confidence while protecting your brand and company reputation.
As heavily-regulated sectors, it's imperative you demonstrate that you have the right security protocols in place.
Safeguard your clients' credit card information and protect your brand and reputation.
Include PCI DSS compliance as your part of insurance plans and protection against data theft.
With Apptega, organizations of all sizes are saving time and money and eliminating PCI DSS compliance frustrations. Apptega is a comprehensive platform that enables you to build, manage, and report your cybersecurity program’s success, including a variety of compliance frameworks.
Here are some of its core benefits:
The PCI Security Standards Council was formed in 2006, representing credit card industry leaders American Express, MasterCard, Discover, Visa, and JCB International. Together, they draw on industry expertise and best practices to develop standards to protect sensitive credit card data. PCI DSS represents those standards and creates a framework organizations can implement to protect cardholder information.
This framework represents 251 requirements organized into 12 core areas. These 12 requirements are “controls.” To achieve compliance you must demonstrate you meet these requirements and successfully pass an assessment from a qualified security assessor. Download the PCI DSS compliance guide for a quick look at those 12 controls and what they mean for compliant organizations.
While the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council manages PCI standards, each credit card company has leeway to enforce its own compliance measures. While the payment card company’s requirements should guide your compliance procedures, here are some basic steps, as outlined by PCI SSC, you can take toward compliance.
Determine Scope
Determine which of your devices, systems, components, and networks are in scope for PCI DSS
Assess Compliance
Assess compliance by completing the testing steps determined for each PCI DSS requirement
Complete (or have your assessor complete) required reports, including documenting all controls
Complete AOC
Complete an Attestation of Compliance (AOC)
Submit Self-assessment
Submit your self-assessment questionnaire, AOC, report on compliance, ASV scan report, and other documents to your acquirer or payment brand requestor
Remediate Gaps
If gaps are discovered, implement actions to remediate requirements and then complete an updated report
Many organizations in a variety of industries rely on the National Institute of Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework to develop their cybersecurity programs and then mature them over time. The NIST framework provides a solid foundation for cybersecurity, and coupled with PCI DSS, they share common goals—to protect sensitive data and improve data security.
If you already have the NIST Cybersecurity Framework in place, you may be curious to know if you can map PCI DSS to it? The answer is, yes! Aligning the two can help you align your organization’s overall cybersecurity and compliance objectives and create a better understanding the effectiveness of your security procedures.
Apptega's Intelligent Framework Mapping, known as Harmony, allows you to automatically crosswalk and consolidate all shared controls, sub controls, resources and activities across multiple frameworks within your program. With this powerful capability, you can significantly improve efficiency and reduce overhead.
The PCI Security Standards Council created an in-depth guide that outlines how to map PCI DSS v3.2.1 to NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework v1.1.
All PCI merchants are classified into one of four compliance levels. These levels are based on credit or debit card transaction volume during a 12-month period. This includes the transaction volume for all credit, debit, and prepaid transactions.
Any merchant—regardless of acceptance channel—processing more than 6 million credit or debit card transactions per year. Level 1 merchants should conduct an annual internal audit and each quarter should have an ASV conduct a PCI scan.
Any merchant—regardless of acceptance channel—processing 1-6 million transactions per year. Level 2 merchants should do a self-assessment questionnaire each year and could be subject to a quarterly ASV PCI scan.
Any merchant processing 20,000 to 1 million ecommerce transactions per year. Level 3 merchants should do an annual self-assessment and may be required to have quarterly ASV PCI scans.
Any merchant processing fewer than 20,000 ecommerce transactions per year and all other merchants—regardless of acceptance channel—processing up to 1 million transactions per year. Level 4 merchants should conduct an annual self-assessment questionnaire and may need to have a quarterly ASV PCI scan.
PCI compliance is an integral part of ensuring your customers’ credit card information is safe. But how do you ensure you’re compliant and your systems are secure? PCI SSC has 9 tips to help you fight against credit card data breaches. Tips range from using validated payment software for all point-of-sale systems and websites to regularly checking devices to ensuring no one has installed unapproved or malicious software or skimming devices. This blog highlights those tips and takes a deeper dive into PCI DSS from a broad scope, including compliance requirements, what happens when you’re not in compliance, and how you can ensure compliance regardless of business phase.
Read MoreOrganizations of all sizes create departmental and data—silos, often fueled by disparate technologies, various schedules, and geographically dispersed teams. Today’s cybersecurity requires cross-collaboration across multiple teams and stakeholders. Internal auditors play an important role in encouraging teams to work together. They help find gaps in your IT and cybersecurity programs to resolve before a breach or before proving program success to an external auditor or assessment. Improving communications between internal audit and IT teams can lead to a thorough security examination of your security and compliance programs to better mitigate risks and improve your security posture.
Read MoreBecause of an increasing number of data breaches and cyber-attacks across all industries, more organizations are investing time, resources, and talent into building robust and resilient cybersecurity and compliance programs. While some work with outside teams, many build their programs on-site using a variety of security frameworks to help protect their systems and data. From SOC2 to NIST, from ISO to PCI, which security framework is right for you? This blog takes a quick look at 11 different security frameworks that are applicable across many industries and outlines what makes each unique and highlights the potential benefits each can add to your cybersecurity program.
Read MoreWhen it comes to creating compliance and cybersecurity programs, there are a number of frameworks you can choose from, or you can draw on the best practices of several, to construct a unique program that works best for your organization. But if you’re new to this, how do you know which one to choose? This on-demand webinar will give you an overview of more than 20 major frameworks, talk about similarities and differences in some, and then outline how you can manage multiple frameworks within a single platform for unprecedented visibility and insight.
Watch NowIt’s one word that makes teams across industries hold their collective breath: audit. That’s because audit preparation is time-consuming and resource-depleting, and pulls your team members away from daily tasks so you have everything ready when your audit begins. In this on-demand webinar, learn from industry professionals who’ve been involved in audits at organizations around the globe. They’ll share pitfalls and tips to help you avoid them, including recommendations to mitigate risks for a successful audit. You’ll also learn new approaches to engage with auditors and provide them the with the data they need that supports your success.
Watch Now
PCI has almost 100 security elements, or 100 separate projects, that should be documented, staffed, managed, and solved all together. Apptega is a cybersecurity framework helps you organize your entire program—who’s accountable, what your policies are, when you need to complete tasks, how much you’re spending, and if you’re on track, including real-time scoring down to the sub-control level.
Companies across all industries use Apptega to implement and report PCI DSS compliance. With ever-changing regulations and evolving business conditions, Apptega will help be prepared for your next audit and customer inquiries.
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