Key Points:

• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliance is crucial for merchants and service providers handling payment card transactions to safeguard customer payment data and prevent breaches.
• Compliance involves adhering to 12 PCI DSS requirements, covering areas like network security, encryption, vulnerability management, access control, monitoring, and information security policies.
• PCI compliance applies to any entity that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data. This includes all businesses accepting card payments, except for cash-based businesses. Non-compliance can result in fines, increased transaction fees, and reputational damage.
• Metomic's data security software can help businesses achieve PCI DSS compliance by providing visibility, access controls, data location identification, and employee training on handling sensitive data in SaaS applications.

In a world where cash is no longer king, protecting your customer’s payment data has become imperative.

Whether you’re a merchant or a service provider, you must ensure you’re complying with PCI DSS regulations or you could be facing heavy penalties.

What is meant by being PCI DSS compliant?

The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) was established in 2006 to ensure payment data is protected when transactions are made, preventing malicious entities from getting their hands on customer information.

All merchants or service providers handling payment cards must be compliant with PCI DSS. Although it’s not a law, the standard is regarded globally as the guideline when it comes to payment card regulations.

To comply with PCI DSS, you’ll need to follow 12 requirements as laid out by the PCI SSC (Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council), which is made up of the five big payment card providers - Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, and JCB.

It’s important to comply with PCI DSS, otherwise you could face fines, higher transaction fees, and a negative impact on your company’s reputation.

What are PCI DSS standards?

Every payment card provider has their own individual requirements, but essentially, there are four levels of PCI standards. The level you fall into will depend on how many card transactions you process each year:

• Level 1: More than 6 million annual payment card transactions
• Level 2: Between 1 million to 6 million annual payment card transactions
• Level 3: Between 20k and 1 million annual payment card transactions
• Level 4: Fewer than 20k annual payment card transactions

What are the 12 PCI DSS requirements, and how do you become PCI compliant? 

Regardless of the level you fall into, you must abide by the 12 PCI DSS requirements to ensure you’re PCI compliant. They are split into six different categories:

1. Build and maintain a secure network and systems

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters

2. Protect account data

3. Protect stored cardholder data
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks

3. Maintain a vulnerability management program

5. Use and regularly update anti-virus software or programs
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications

4. Implement strong access control measures

7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data

5. Regularly monitor and test networks

10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
11. Regularly test security systems and processes

6. Maintain an information security policy

12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security for employees and contractors

Who does PCI DSS compliance typically apply to?

Any merchants or service providers who are using or accepting payments by card must comply with PCI.

The PCI guidelines state:

‍‘The PCI DSS applies to all entities that store, process, and/or transmit cardholder data. It covers technical and operational system components included in or connected to cardholder data. If you accept or process payment cards, PCI DSS applies to you.’

You’ll only be exempt if you’re a cash-based business, and don’t take card transactions.

How do you know whether your business is PCI DSS compliant?

Once you’ve understood the level you fall into and the standards you’ll need to comply with, you should undertake a self assessment to see whether your business is abiding with PCI DSS requirements. With a self assessment in place, you’ll be able to see where your weaknesses lie and where you can improve when it comes to PCI DSS compliance.

The PCI Security Standards website has many useful guides to help you better understand PCI compliance and how to perform a self assessment, https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/merchants/.

You should also establish who in your organisation is responsible for ensuring you’re compliant with PCI DSS. Having an individual or team responsible for managing your compliance means it won’t be overlooked.

Ben van Enckevort, Chief Technology Officer at Metomic, says:

“Testing your systems regularly to understand where your compliance might be slipping is key. You’ll want to understand if your anti-virus software is working effectively, and if data is encrypted when it’s in transit to be fully PCI compliant. If you find that you’re not, there could be serious consequences, so it’s something to keep on top of, all year round.”

6 steps to becoming PCI DSS compliant

To ensure your business is compliant with PCI DSS, there are a few key steps to follow:

1) Designate responsible person(s) 

Knowing who is accountable for PCI DSS compliance makes it easier to manage. It's recommended to designate one responsible person who can oversee compliance, or a team who will work together to ensure compliance is achieved, so that PCI DSS compliance isn't missed.

2) Define the scope of your environment

Understanding where your cardholder data lives is a crucial aspect of PCI DSS compliance. You should identify all of the systems and assets that contain payment card data, and determine the PCI level you will fall into. Remember to take third-party systems that handle cardholder data into account too.

3) Conduct a risk assessment

A risk assessment will uncover any vulnerabilities to the cardholder environment, and the impact of potential data breaches or leaks. Are your existing security controls enough to mitigate the risks to your environment? Are there any other measures you can put in place?

4) Implement crucial security controls

The PCI DSS standard requires specific security controls to be put in place, such as access controls to limit unauthorised access to cardholder data, system patching to protect your environment, encryption, and monitoring. Use the PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire to help you cover all the necessary steps.

5) Monitor your security measures

To ensure PCI compliance, security measures need to be consistently monitored to analyse network activity, and detect unauthorised access to the cardholder environment. Vulnerability assessments and penetration testing can help identify vulnerabilities quickly, so that action can be taken immediately.

6) Maintain the necessary documentation

You will need to demonstrate compliance with PCI DSS requirements, so documentation is vital. This includes policies and security incident response procedures that you will need to show to stakeholders, and regulatory authorities.

PCI DSS compliance is an ongoing process, so regular assessments should be carried out to ensure the organisation is still able to trade. Qualified PCI assessors will be able to work with you to establish a comprehensive audit for your PCI compliance status.

What happens if you don’t comply with PCI DSS?

You could end up paying fines that range from $5k to $100k per month to the payment card providers. How much you pay will depend on the level you fall into and the circumstances behind the non-compliance. For instance, companies that are in the Level 1 category will likely pay out a lot more than those in the Level 4 category. Fines are also dependant on the severity of breaches - if data was breached and it took a long time to fix the issue, you could end up with a heavier fine.

For example, in 2017, British Airways was fined $229 million for a data breach that affected 500,000 customers.

You’ll also lose the trust of your customers who are expecting you to protect their sensitive data. Reputational damage could hurt you long-term, even after you’ve paid the monetary penalties. If your clients find that you’ve put their data at risk, they’re likely to take their business elsewhere.

How can Metomic help a business become PCI compliant?

There are a few ways Metomic can help businesses become PCI compliant:

• We give you full visibility and control over financial data held in your SaaS apps like Google Drive, Slack, and Jira
• We help you put access controls in place, limiting over-exposure of sensitive information
• We help you identify where sensitive data is stored and who has access to it
• We help reinforce PCI DSS compliance by sending employee notifications to your staff when they share sensitive data within SaaS apps

To see how we’ve helped others protect sensitive data in the financial sector, check out our most recent case study with Zappi.