PCI DSS, the abbreviation of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, is a complete set of security standards maintained by the PCI Council. The purpose of the PCI standard is to protect and secure the overall payment card ecosystem. With a sudden surge in Cyber threats and data breaches in the past few decades, there is an increased demand for online security measures.
As all the companies store their customer’s data, process and transmit their information, it is indeed required to maintain a secure environment. The PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) is set up to secure the individual’s information. Here we are going to introduce you to the 12 rules set forth by the PCI DSS to have a better understanding of the security concept:
The 12 requirements by PCI DSS for Cardholder data security
Requirement 1: Install both hardware and software firewalls to your systems
The primary requirement of the PCI DSS is to install both hardware and software firewalls to your systems for high-quality security. Firewalls appear as the most effective method for restricting both incoming and outgoing network traffic to the organization. It helps the organization configure rules and regulations for network traffic according to their interests and requirements.
You have the option to install both hardware and software firewalls for your organization. While hardware firewalls offer the most robust security to the systems, software firewalls help protect the organization’s systems from internal threats and are cheaper to maintain.
Hardware firewalls are typically more expensive, difficult to configure, and need regular maintenance and review. However, these offer the most robust security options for organizations. Software firewalls control the internal environment of the organizations, such as preventing threats of email phishing by employees.
Requirements 2: Configure system settings and passwords
This requirement is introduced for the robust security of the servers, network devices, applications, firewalls, and access points. Since the operating systems and applications come with vendor-supplied passwords and settings, there are higher chances of a data breach. It doesn’t take much effort to guess these passwords as they follow the easy pattern, and some are also available easily on the internet.
Sometimes, customers and third parties also configure easy-to-remember passwords for easy accessibility. And that is the most significant loophole for the hackers and attackers. Data breaches mostly happen due to weak patterns of passwords. For a better card security environment, strong passwords are crucial.
According to requirement 2, the merchants and service providers need to configure solid passwords and change the settings of the operating systems and servers. This method needs to be followed every time a new system introduces to the organization’s servers.
Requirement 3: Protecting stored data of Cardholders
The organization or merchants must be aware of the location of the data they store at their servers. All such data should be encrypted in industry-accepted algorithms (e.g., AES-256), truncated, tokenized, or hashed (e.g., SHA 256, PBKDF2).
In most cases, merchants are unaware that they are storing the PAN (Primary Account Number) in unencrypted format. It is not only essential to keep the information in an encrypted form, but it is equally essential to protect the encryption keys.
Requirement 4: Encrypting transmission of data over open and public servers
Requirement 4 is the follow-up process of requirement 3, where you have to check where you need to secure the card data while sharing on the public and open networks. First, organizations need to identify where they are going to share the card data. The most common places where primary account numbers (PAN) are shared are as follows:
- Processors
- Backup servers
- Third parties that store or handle PAN information.
- Outsourced systems management or infrastructure
- Corporate offices
Cyber attackers are always looking for loopholes in the servers of the organizations. Transmitting data over open and public networks is more vulnerable to data breaches. It is essential to Encrypt such information for public networks using various transmission protocols such as TSL, SSH, etc. Using these protocols will limit the consequences of data breaches.
Requirement 5: Use Anti-virus programs and update regularly
Requirement 5 is based entirely on the protection of systems of the organization from malicious activities and viruses. Anti-virus programs must be installed and update from time to time for the best protection against malware and threats. Also, make sure that your POS vendors use anti-virus scans regularly. Configure your anti-virus programs to make quick alerts as soon as it encounters any suspicious event.
Requirement 6: Update regularly and patch systems
Applications and operating systems are never perfect. That is why new updates released frequently to patch the systems and make them perfect. However, these patchings are also time-sensitive sometimes. Hackers follow this time pattern and find ways to get through these security holes. It is crucial to define and maintain a process that identifies the risk of vulnerabilities in a security system. It is necessary to patch all the networks in the card data environment must regularly to limit the threat that includes:
- Operating systems
- Firewalls, Routers, Switches
- Application software
- Databases
- POS terminals
Requirement 7: Restrict unnecessary access to cardholder’s data on a need-to-know basis
Requirement 7 requires organizations to set up a role-based access control (RBAC) system. You need to configure the organization’s strategies and maintain a list of employees who don’t access the cardholder’s data. Also, take strong measures to protect sensitive information of the user’s accounts.
The organization must grant access to the users and system on a need-to-know basis. In this, they have to identify the roles of the employees, how much information they need, whether they need to access the personal data of the cardholder’s data or not.
Requirement 8: Assign unique and strong ID and passwords to each employee and systems
The best way to protect your organization’s systems is to assign unique and strong passwords to each technique and employee. Using the weak and same password for a group of systems and the same patterns are more vulnerable to data breaches.
Whenever someone tries to breach a system, you can quickly identify the existing systems to perform measurable steps promptly. Also, it would be best if you use two-factor authentication for all the non-console administrators.
Requirement 9: Restrict physical access to cardholder’s data
The most significant loophole in the security of cardholder’s data is when the physical access to their data is easily accessible. There are many instances where you can see that security breaches happen during working hours. This is because the employees are too busy with their work that they cannot focus on the suspicious activities around the office.
The best method to protect this is to limit all the physical access of cardholder data areas. You can also adopt several practices such as implementing automated lockout/timeout controls at workstations, frequent inspection of all the devices, and training your staff about the various ways to protect the data physically.
Requirement 10: Regularly track and monitor the various access to cardholder’s data
A data breach can happen for many reasons. This requirement of the PCI DSS compliance states that regular tracking and monitoring of data is necessary to check all access to the network and cardholder’s data. All the logs and the logging information need to be checked periodically to find out the vulnerabilities and suspicious activities.
You need to have a proper log monitoring system such as security information and event monitoring tools (SIEM) to identify and insect system errors by making alerts to the servers and the actions required to solve the issues.
Requirement 11: Perform vulnerability scans and penetration tests
A cardholder’s data is constantly under threat due to various reasons. It is the responsibility of the merchants or services providers to keep their data safe from all kinds of vulnerabilities. Conducting regular vulnerability scans and penetration tests will allow you to quickly find vulnerabilities to the systems that you can solve at the initial stages.
Vulnerability scans are performed to better insight into the external IPs domains exposed in the CDE through a quarterly PCI-approved scanning vendor.
On the flip side, a penetration test is conducted to identify weaknesses in a system. This test analyzes the network environment, identifies prospective vulnerabilities, and exploits these vulnerabilities to check how much your system can handle cyber attacks.
Requirement 12: Prepare a policy for the workforce
Now, as you jump to the last requirement of the PCI DSS compliance, you can understand that all the requirements revolve around one thing. That is the security of cardholder’s data. According to this requirement, each service provider needs to prepare a policy with rules and regulations for each personnel. It is essential to review and update the policy every year. Also, you need to perform the below-mentioned activities:
- User awareness training
- Employee background check
- Incident management
- Third-party vendor contracts
- Employee manual
Why is PCI DSS compliance substantial?
PCI DSS is the minimum set of rules required to protect the data of cardholders. Moreover, it is also a globally recognized requirement in the industry. Data breaches are the biggest concern for individuals nowadays. Users lose trust if they think their data is vulnerable to cyber threats. Complying with the above regulations of PCI DSS helps merchants and service providers gain their customer’s confidence and improve their industry standards.