Becoming PCI Compliant for Free Made Easy

Becoming PCI compliant doesn't have to break the bank. In fact, with the right resources and knowledge, you can achieve compliance for free.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that accept, process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.

To start your journey to free PCI compliance, you'll want to focus on the 12 main requirements outlined in the PCI DSS standard.

The PCI security standards have three main pillars that businesses must adhere to: focused on credit card data, protecting stored data, and annual validation. This ensures the secure handling of sensitive information.

Businesses that directly deal with credit card data must meet over 300 requirements, organized into 12 high-level requirements. These requirements cover security systems, organizational processes, testing, and policies to protect cardholder data.

To become PCI compliant, you must meet the 12 PCI compliance requirements, which are summarized below:

PCI compliance is a set of standards that ensures the secure handling of credit card information. It's a must-have for any business that accepts card payments.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is the standard that governs PCI compliance, and it's maintained by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). The council is made up of major card brands like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.

To be PCI compliant, businesses must follow 12 main security requirements, which cover everything from installing firewalls to regularly updating software. These requirements are outlined in the PCI DSS document, which is regularly updated to reflect new security threats.

The PCI SSC also provides tools and resources to help businesses achieve compliance, including a self-assessment questionnaire and a list of approved scanning vendors.

Businesses are divided into four levels based on the number of annual transactions they process. The PCI Security Standards Council assigns a level based on the number of transactions.

Level 1 businesses process upwards of 6 million transactions, or have experienced a breach. This is the highest level and requires an annual internal audit and a quarterly PCI scan by an external approved vendor.

To determine your level, you need to consider the number of transactions you process. For merchants, this is the number of credit card transactions per year.

Here are the levels for merchants:

Service providers also have levels, but they are based on the number of transactions they handle annually. For example, a level 1 service provider deals with 300,000 or more credit card transactions annually.

Data Security Standards (DSS) are crucial for PCI compliance. PCI DSS is a global standard that applies to all companies, irrespective of their size, that accept credit card payments.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) maintains and promotes the Payment Card Industry Security Standards. They provide critical tools needed for implementation of the standards, such as assessment and scanning qualifications, self-assessment questionnaires, training and education, and product certification programs.

PCI DSS has three main pillars: protecting sensitive data, protecting stored data, and annual validation. Businesses that directly deal with credit card data must adhere to 300+ requirements defined in the PCI security standard. Businesses that do not directly deal with card data need to adhere to fewer security requirements.

The 12 PCI compliance requirements include security systems, organizational processes, testing, and policies that can help protect cardholder data. These requirements are summarized below:

Data security standards, such as PCI DSS, cover sensitive payment information to protect cardholders' data.

Cardholder data consists of Primary Account Number (PAN), cardholder name, expiration date, and service code. This data is protected to prevent unauthorized access and misuse.

Sensitive authentication data, including full track data, CAV2/CVC2/CVV2/CID, and PINs/PIN blocks, must never be stored according to PCI DSS.

Here's a breakdown of cardholder data:

There are four PCI compliance levels, which determine the level of security required for businesses that process credit card transactions.

Businesses that process a large number of transactions, or have experienced a breach, are classified as Level 1. This level requires an annual internal audit and a quarterly PCI scan conducted by an external approved vendor.

For businesses that process between 1 and 6 million transactions, or between 20,000 and 1 million internet transactions, the level is Level 2 or Level 3, respectively. These businesses are required to conduct a self-assessment on a yearly basis using a designated questionnaire.

Businesses with fewer than 20,000 internet transactions or fewer than 1 million physical card transactions are classified as Level 4. They also need to conduct a self-assessment on a yearly basis.

Here's a summary of the PCI compliance levels:

Businesses that need to achieve PCI compliance will need to determine their level based on their transaction volume. This will help them understand what steps they need to take to meet the required security standards.

Becoming PCI compliant for free requires a solid understanding of network security. You need to install and maintain network security controls, such as firewalls and other network security technologies.

Network security controls are network policy enforcement points that control network traffic between two or more logical or physical network segments. They are configured and maintained to restrict network access to and from the cardholder data environment.

To ensure network security, you need to control network connections between trusted and untrusted networks. This includes risks to the cardholder data environment from computing devices that can connect to both untrusted networks and the CDE.

Here are some key steps to follow:

Regular testing of security is also crucial. This includes identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, performing external and internal penetration testing, and detecting and responding to network intrusions and unexpected file changes.

To stay on top of security, you should conduct quarterly vulnerability scans, check PIN-entry devices and computers regularly, and implement visitor logs and automated audit trails.

To become PCI compliant, you need to implement strong user authentication measures. This includes assigning a unique identification (ID) to each person with access to ensure that actions taken on critical data and systems are performed by, and can be traced to, known and authorized users.

User identification and related accounts for users and administrators must be strictly managed throughout an account's lifecycle. This includes processes and mechanisms for identifying users and authenticating access to system components that are defined and understood.

Strong authentication for users and administrators is essential, and it should be established and managed. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is also a must, implemented to secure access into the CDE and configured to prevent misuse.

Use of application and system accounts and associated authentication factors must be strictly managed. This includes assigning the least amount of data needed to perform a job, providing only the minimum level of privileges needed to perform a job, and limiting access based on need to know and according to job responsibilities.

Physical access to cardholder data or systems that store, process, or transmit cardholder data should be restricted so that unauthorized individuals cannot access or remove systems or hardcopies containing this data. This includes restricting physical access to facilities and systems containing cardholder data.

To achieve this, define and understand processes and mechanisms for restricting physical access to cardholder data. Physical access controls should manage entry into facilities and systems containing cardholder data, and physical access for personnel and visitors should be authorized and managed.

Securely store, access, distribute, and destroy media with cardholder data, and protect point-of-interaction (POI) devices from tampering and unauthorized substitution.

Developing and maintaining secure systems and software is crucial to prevent security vulnerabilities. This includes installing vendor-provided security patches to eliminate known vulnerabilities.

Entities must have the most recently released critical security patches installed on all system components to prevent exploitation. They must also apply patches to less-critical systems in an appropriate timeframe, based on a formal risk analysis.

Applications must be developed according to secure development and coding practices. Changes to systems in the cardholder data environment must follow change control procedures.

Bespoke and custom software must be developed securely, and security vulnerabilities must be identified and addressed. Public-facing web applications must be protected against attacks.

Processes and mechanisms for developing and maintaining secure systems and software must be defined and understood. System components must be configured and managed securely, including wireless environments.

Changing default passwords, removing unnecessary software, functions, and accounts, and disabling or removing unnecessary services all help to reduce the potential attack surface.

Restricting physical access to cardholder data is crucial to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing or removing systems or hardcopies containing this sensitive information. This includes defining and understanding processes and mechanisms for restricting physical access to cardholder data, as outlined in Requirement 9.

Physical access controls manage entry into facilities and systems containing cardholder data, ensuring that only authorized personnel and visitors have access. This includes managing physical access for personnel and visitors, as stated in Requirement 9.

Media with cardholder data must be securely stored, accessed, distributed, and destroyed, as per Requirement 9. This includes protecting point-of-interaction (POI) devices from tampering and unauthorized substitution.

Time-synchronization mechanisms support consistent time settings across all systems, which is mentioned in Requirement 10.6. This ensures that all systems are on the same page, so to speak, and helps prevent any potential issues that may arise from inconsistent time settings.

System Component Access Logging is a critical aspect of physical and system security. It involves tracking and monitoring all access to system components and cardholder data.

Logging mechanisms are essential for detection of anomalies and suspicious activities, and for effective forensic analysis. Determining the cause of a compromise is difficult, if not impossible, without system activity logs.

Audit logs are implemented to support the detection of anomalies and suspicious activity, and the forensic analysis of events. These logs are protected from destruction and unauthorized modifications.

Audit logs are reviewed to identify anomalies or suspicious activity. This helps to ensure that any potential security breaches are quickly detected and addressed.

Audit log history is retained and available for analysis. This allows for thorough tracking and analysis of system activity over time.

Failures of critical security control systems are detected, reported, and responded to promptly. This helps to prevent security breaches from going undetected for extended periods of time.

Processes and mechanisms for logging and monitoring all access to system components and cardholder data are defined and documented. This helps to ensure that logging and monitoring are consistent and effective.

Access to system components and data is managed via an access control system(s). This helps to limit access to authorized personnel and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Access to system components and data is appropriately defined and assigned. This helps to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive data and system components.

Vulnerability Management is a crucial step in becoming PCI compliant. It involves identifying and addressing potential security weaknesses in your systems and networks.

You need to conduct regular vulnerability scans to identify potential security weaknesses. This can be done using free tools like OpenVAS.

The PCI DSS requires you to perform quarterly vulnerability scans and address any identified vulnerabilities. You can use the results of these scans to prioritize your remediation efforts.

Remediation efforts should focus on addressing high-risk vulnerabilities first. This can be done by applying patches or updates to your systems.

The PCI DSS also requires you to maintain a record of all vulnerability scans and remediation efforts. This can be done using a vulnerability management tool like Nessus.

You can also use the results of vulnerability scans to improve your overall security posture. This can be done by identifying areas for improvement and implementing additional security controls.

Regular vulnerability scans can help you identify and address potential security weaknesses before they are exploited. This can help prevent data breaches and other security incidents.

Network testing and monitoring are crucial steps in becoming PCI compliant. Regular vulnerability scans are a must, especially if you accept payments directly over the internet.

Conduct quarterly vulnerability scans to identify potential security risks. This will help you stay ahead of malicious individuals and researchers who are continually discovering new vulnerabilities.

Check your PIN-entry devices and computers regularly to prevent hackers from attaching skimmers or similar devices to capture credit card data.

Implement visitor logs and automated audit trails to keep track of every transaction that has been accessed. This will provide valuable information in case of a breach or problem with a transaction.

Here are some key steps to follow:

Regularly testing security of systems and networks is also essential. This includes identifying and monitoring wireless access points, addressing unauthorized access points, and regularly identifying and addressing external and internal vulnerabilities.

External and internal penetration testing should be performed regularly to correct exploitable vulnerabilities and security weaknesses. Network intrusions and unexpected file changes should also be detected and responded to promptly. Unauthorized changes on payment pages should be detected and responded to as well.