Pan PCI Compliance Made Easy with Data Masking and Storage

Data masking is a key component of achieving pan PCI compliance, as it allows you to protect sensitive data without completely removing it from your systems. This approach ensures that your data remains usable for testing and development purposes while minimizing the risk of data breaches.

By using data masking, you can create a layered security approach that includes encryption, access controls, and monitoring. This helps to reduce the attack surface and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Data masking also simplifies the process of storing and managing sensitive data, as it eliminates the need for complex data encryption and decryption processes. This makes it easier to comply with PCI DSS requirements for data storage and security.

Additional reading: Card Data Covered by Pci Dss Includes

Primary Account Numbers (PANs) are unique identification number sequences generated by card providers to designate a primary account for purposes of processing payments. They're the card numbers you see on the front of your credit or debit card and the number used to make purchases on digital or eCommerce storefronts.

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Each PAN has a specific arrangement that payment processors use to identify and authenticate the cards. This arrangement will differ slightly from one card network to the next.

Here are the components of a PAN:

Knowing the full card number could allow hackers to pull fraudulent activities, and having full knowledge of the card number allows hackers to link a credit network, issuing bank, and individual account number for a specific customer.

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Data masking and truncation are two key methods for protecting sensitive payment card information (PAN) in accordance with PCI DSS requirements.

Masking involves replacing select digits with another symbol, usually an X or a hash mark, to conceal the PAN information. This is often seen on paper receipts where only the final four or so digits of the account numbers are displayed.

Masking is used for internal security purposes, where only authorized viewers may see unmasked PAN information. Otherwise, any display of said information must be masked, covering any and all PAN information not required for processing.

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There are specific requirements for masking: it must not exceed the first six digits (the BIN) or the last four digits, and the unique account number must always be masked at a minimum.

Truncation is nearly identical to masking, but it involves limiting access to the entirety of the card number by storing only the truncated version. This reduces the attack surface open to hackers, as they cannot reconstruct the full PAN information from the stolen truncated data.

Truncation is used when the entire number isn’t needed, allowing businesses to use the BIN and checksum digit if needed as part of any internal processes.

Here are the key differences between masking and truncation:

According to PCI DSS requirements, truncation can be done by storing a PAN section (not exceeding the first six and last four characters).

Tokenization is often considered a better alternative for storing cardholder details because tokens can be stored in the same 16-digit form and be only partially masked.

This method allows you to create a secure token that keeps a part of the PAN unchanged, which is useful for routing and reporting purposes.

The first 6 digits representing the BIN can be maintained unaltered, which is important for card processing entities.

Leaving a part of the token without changes makes it not only secure but also useful for verification and customer service purposes.

Here are some options for making PAN data unreadable according to PCI DSS:

Tokenization is a way to use the value of a PAN to secure it, by replacing it with a unique token that can be used to access the actual information in a secure vault.

This approach helps facilitate the online transmission of PANs without exposing them, as hackers intercepting transmissions will gain access to tokens, not the actual PAN.

Hashing, on the other hand, is an algorithm that calculates a fixed-size bit string value from a file in a way that cannot be reversed, typically used to verify the integrity of data.

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However, hashing the PAN does not remove it from scope if it cannot be associated with encrypted PAN or truncated PAN, and you cannot both hash and truncate the same card numbers.

Sticking with the standard first six and last four digits of the PAN is recommended, as using other formats can increase the ability to reconstruct the full PAN and reduce its security value.

Tokenization is a way to secure sensitive information like PAN numbers by replacing the actual value with a unique token.

This token is derived from a select range of digits and is unique to them, making it difficult for hackers to reverse-engineer the original PAN number.

During tokenization, the original PAN value is stored in a secure vault, protected by a correlating key, while the proxy account number is stored in the normal database.

This approach helps facilitate the online transmission of PANs without exposing them to potential hackers.

Whenever the system needs to access PAN information, it can use the token to access the actual information in the vault, making it a secure and efficient way to handle sensitive data.

For another approach, see: Pci Dss Information Security Policy

Hashing is a powerful tool for protecting sensitive information like PAN numbers. It uses a cryptographic function to transform the data into a completely different form that's impossible to reverse.

This process is useful for authentication and verification of user data, as it allows systems to verify the authenticity of a user without exposing their actual card number. The hashing function is applied to the PAN number, rendering it unreadable.

One way to think about hashing is that it's like a one-way lockbox. Once the data is inside, it can't be retrieved, but it can still be verified.

To ensure security, PCI requires that hashing algorithms use a powerful "salt" or secret input value. This adds an extra layer of protection against hackers trying to reverse-engineer the hash.

Hashing the PAN does remove it from scope if it can't be associated with encrypted PAN or truncated PAN. However, it's essential to note that you can't both hash and truncate the same card numbers, as that would make it too easy to guess the missing digits.

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Here are the key takeaways about hashing:

To meet PCI DSS PAN requirements, you should ensure that Primary Account Numbers (PAN) are not sent unencrypted via end-user messaging technologies. This includes email, instant messaging, chat forums, fax, and other applicable end-user technology.

Cardholder data sent across open, public networks must be protected through the use of strong cryptography or security protocols such as AES-128 encryption and the TLS 1.2 network protocol. This is a critical step in maintaining the security of sensitive payment information.

To limit the scope of the cardholder data environment, cardholder data should not be processed, transmitted, or stored on the university network. This is a key requirement for PCI-DSS compliance.

Here's a summary of the key PAN PCI compliance requirements:

Requirement 3.4 is all about securing Primary Account Numbers (PANs) wherever they're stored. PCI Requirement 3.4 requires that PANs be rendered unreadable anywhere they're stored, including on portable digital media, backup media, and in logs.

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To achieve this, organizations can use one-way hashes based on strong cryptography, which must be of the entire PAN. Truncation is also an option, but hashing cannot be used to replace the truncated segment of the PAN.

Strong cryptography with associated key-management processes and procedures is another approach that meets the requirement. Index tokens and pads can also be used, but the pads must be securely stored.

The scope of PAN PCI compliance is quite broad, affecting all university personnel and entities responsible for managing and supporting systems within the PCI scope.

University business units are responsible for following the information security policy development and implementation process established by this policy.

This means that every department and team within the university needs to be on board with the compliance requirements.

University business units must communicate their information security policies effectively, review and update them regularly, and monitor them for compliance and effectiveness.

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This is a big job, but it's essential to ensure that all systems and processes are secure and compliant with PCI standards.

Here are the key groups affected by the scope of PAN PCI compliance:

These groups must all work together to ensure that cardholder data is handled securely and in compliance with PCI-DSS requirements.

To ensure PCI DSS compliance, it's essential to understand the assessment process. During the PCI assessment, you'll need to provide documentation about your systems, files from data repositories, samples of removable media, and samples of audit logs for the assessor to examine.

The assessor will ensure that the Primary Account Number (PAN) is unreadable. To make this process smoother, take a full inventory of the places where your data resides before the assessment.

You can use a cloud-based platform like Continuum GRC to ensure you're meeting PCI DSS PAN requirements. This platform provides risk management and compliance support for various regulations, including PCI DSS 4.0.

To meet Continuum GRC requirements, you'll want to ensure you're practicing proper data obfuscation for PCI DSS compliance. Continuum GRC is a cloud-based platform that provides risk management and compliance support for every major regulation and compliance framework on the market, including PCI DSS 4.0.

Continuum GRC is trusted by payment processors worldwide to ensure they continue to meet or exceed PCI requirements. It's plugged into a team of experts and provides always-available support.

To secure your online transactions, take steps such as implementing two-factor authentication and using strong cryptography with associated key-management processes and procedures. Continuum GRC can help you navigate these requirements.

The Continuum GRC platform supports a wide range of compliance frameworks, including FedRAMP, StateRAMP, NIST 800-53, and more. It's the only FedRAMP and StateRAMP authorized compliance and risk management solution in the world.

To protect payment data, you should render PAN (primary account number) unreadable anywhere it is stored by using one-way hashes based on strong cryptography, truncation, index tokens and pads, or strong cryptography with associated key-management processes and procedures. This is in line with PCI Requirement 3.4.

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Continuum GRC provides support for business management, financial services, technical support, payment systems, and more. It's a comprehensive solution for meeting Continuum GRC requirements.

Here are some benefits of using Continuum GRC:

Before starting the assessment process, it's essential to take a full inventory of where your data resides. This will help you provide your assessor with the necessary documentation and evidence.

You'll need to gather information about your systems, files from data repositories, samples of removable media, and samples of audit logs. This will ensure that the Payment Card Industry (PCI) assessor can thoroughly examine your data and verify that the Primary Account Number (PAN) is unreadable.

To render PAN unreadable, you need to use standard security practices like encryption. However, simply encrypting the data isn't always feasible for businesses that need to access the data for processing purposes.

One-way hashes based on strong cryptography are a good approach when you don't need to retrieve the original number, because they are irreversible. This means that even if a hacker gets access to the hashed data, they won't be able to get back to the original PAN.

Truncation is another method that permanently removes some of the PAN data, so only a portion of the number is stored. According to PCI DSS, this portion should not exceed the first six and last four digits.

Index tokens and pads can also be used to replace the PAN with a cryptographic token. This token is based on a given index for an unpredictable value. A one-time pad is a system where a randomly generated private key is used only once to encrypt a message.

Strong cryptography with associated key-management processes and procedures is also an effective way to render PAN unreadable. If the data is encrypted, the assessor needs to verify that you're using an industry-accepted encryption protocol.

To ensure the original PAN remains unreadable, controls that prevent the correlation of hashed and truncated versions of PAN are necessary. This will help defend against hackers and protect sensitive data.

Here are some approved approaches to hiding PAN information, as defined by PCI DSS: