In a time of widespread concern about phishing attempts and cyberattacks, you need a clear roadmap for protecting your organization from malicious cybercriminals. For organizations dealing with cardholder data, the roadmap has already been laid down in the form of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
Any organization that needs to process payment information online must pursue the PCI compliance standard to ensure that it's following best practices for customer data security and protection. Created by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI-SSC), the standard works toward increasing protection and controls around cardholder data while reducing the risk of credit card fraud.
If your organization is PCI compliant, it demonstrates major progress in your efforts to prevent data breaches and cyberattacks. PCI-DSS compliance is extremely beneficial for organizations that process payments online.
Regardless of size, any organization that processes, stores, or transmits cardholder data and related sensitive information must ensure PCI compliance. This pretty much applies to all e-commerce businesses. However, the level of adherence varies according to the number of credit card transactions processed.
An organization that suffers a breach while being non-compliant or not fully compliant can end up paying fines to the PCI-SSC, which adds further financial repercussions to the breach. Thus, PCI compliance is a worthwhile pursuit for organizations that seek to protect their reputation and customer data.
5 ways to become PCI-DSS compliant
Organizations looking to become PCI-DSS compliant can follow these five simple steps.
1. Determine your PCI level and scope
Merchants that process over six million transactions annually are considered level 1, while those between one and six million are designated level 2. Level 3 merchants process 20,000 to one million transactions each year. Anything less is considered level 4. Each level must adhere to specific requirements about PCI-DSS.
Once you determine your level, you must assess your compliance's scope.
- Scope involves any process, person, or component that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data.
- Components include servers, networking devices, routers, computing devices, and applications.
Determining scope is important to know which entities handle your credit card data. It's impossible to protect what you don't know, and it's impossible to secure it.
Creating a payment card data flow diagram for in-scope entities can ensure that you don't miss out on anything. Start by documenting the process from the very first step to make it easy for employees to understand what was done, how it was done, and what still needs to be done. Document changes in your organization's security whenever they occur. Reviewing the documentation (at least quarterly) is also a good idea to ensure that no errors are made.
2. Complete a self-assessment questionnaire
Self-assessment questionnaires are available on the PCI-SSC website. Different questionnaires apply to other organizations, but each has a series of yes or no questions that will help you determine how closely you meet the requirements of PCI DSS. Any "No" answer indicates a red flag and requires appropriate action. Organizations commonly lag in compliance with vulnerable authentication credentials, outdated security protocols, and failed SSL certificate verification.
Encouraging your employees to become SecurityX (formerly CASP+) certified equips them with advanced-level security knowledge and technical skills and ensures they can optimally self-assess their organization's security position.
3. Create and maintain a secure network
At this point, many smaller organizations will need to find a trustworthy information technology contractor. With little technical expertise, it's favorable to leave the important task of network security and firewalls to those who specialize in it. PCI compliance requires organizations to use systems that stop unauthorized access by untrusted factors.
Once you implement your firewall:
- Develop a robust password program
- Change default passwords
- Continue to change passwords at regular intervals
Always keep your firewall operational and updated. No employee should ever have a reason to disable it.
As a large organization with an IT department, you will need trained and certified employees responsible for ensuring network security. CompTIA's Security+ certification exam measures, among other things, your ability to identify attacks, threats, and vulnerabilities and to install and configure software—and hardware-based network components to support organizational security.
4. Train your staff
Are you aware that 60% of data breaches are a result of negligence by corporate partners and employees? Employees are often the weakest security link. Still, most organizations don't spend enough time properly training them for security.
The best way to train your employees is to create customized programs for their individual roles. For instance, a front-desk officer will require training different from that of an operational manager. Since humans tend to forget easily and the best way to retain information is through repetition, it's always better to train monthly instead of annually.
The CASP+ certification ensures that employees handling critical data are equipped to understand, retain, compare, and contrast security policies and procedures based on organizational requirements.
5. Hire a security professional
Consider working with a security expert or a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) to ensure complete PCI compliance. QSAs are intensively trained to understand every detailed requirement of data security and PCI-DSS and have the required technical expertise to guide you through the entire process. If you work for a small business, you may not need a PCI-DSS audit but could still consult a PCI professional to walk you through your compliance path.
Your road to PCI compliance may be complex, but it is worth the journey if you want to guard customer data, avoid reputational damage, and future-proof your organization.