Why do you need to have PCI compliance?

Because it is mandated by credit card companies like Visa Inc., MasterCard, Discover Financial Services, American Express and more. The fundamental purpose is to protect card data from hackers and ensure card security.

Regardless of whether you are a sole proprietor or a Fortune 50 company, as long as you run purchasing cards like credit or debit cards, you are obligated to comply with the PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standards), which is a set of security standards designed to ensure a secure card transaction environment.

There are five key benefits of PCI-DSS compliance:

• Prevents data security breaches and client information loss
• Improves customer trust and relationships with a good brand reputation
• Brings in more happy customers and stronger loyalty
• Avoids costly penalties and other liabilities of non-compliance
• Sustains your business with global operation and security standards

How do you comply with the PCI-DSS?

PCI compliance is a critical and comprehensive process. At a high-level overview, PCI compliance has various requirements:

• A firewall needs to be installed and maintained to protect cardholder data.
• You need to create unique system passwords and other security parameters.
• You must take measures to protect cardholder data in storage.
• When transmitting cardholder data across public networks, encryption is required.
• Anti-virus software must be installed in all service-related devices and equipment.
• All systems and applications need end-to-end security protection.
• You need to restrict both physical and electronic access to cardholder data as necessary. Each person with computer access must have a unique ID and proper restrictions.
• All access records to network resources and cardholder data must be tracked and monitored.
• You must run a regular security system check and process tests to fix gaps and glitches.
• You need to develop, enforce and maintain an information security policy in the organization.

The goals of these requirements are to make sure you understand PCI data security standards and to help you best implement them in your organization. Feel quite overwhelmed? Don’t worry.

We are here to help you with our PCI support

Here is the general process we run for PCI compliance consulting services to secure your business:

1. Scope and SAQ validation: As a PCI consultant, we will evaluate your organization's systems, personnel and processes based on PCI-DSS guidelines. We can support you in filling out the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) and provide employee awareness and training sessions.
2. Gap analysis: Our PCI services will assess your PCI compliance status quo by focusing on reviewing existing policies, processes and controls relevant to the cardholder data environment to uncover any alarming gaps.
3. Implementation: Based on the gap analysis, PCI-DSS remediation is due. Our PCI consultant team will put in place an effective plan on the control measures that can make compliance happen.
4. Audit and compliance reporting: As PCI Qualified Security Assessors (QSA), we can support you in the completion of a full report on compliance (RoC) and the acceptance of your RoC by your major credit card business partners.
5. PCI compliance maintenance: In order to maintain PCI-DSS compliance status going forward, our PCI services run all the mandatory testing, which includes vulnerability assessments, penetration testing and segmentation testing as applicable. We can also consult on and review business or system changes and assess the impact with regards to your PCI scope change and reporting requirements.