Steps to achieve and maintain PCI-DSS Compliance

Card holder’s information is under constant threat from hackers. With the user’s payment details and other hacking techniques, an attacker can use it to make successful transactions. And that is where Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards come into play. PCI-DSS compiles a set of protocols to design a robust system. And, this system is your guard on duty to secure the most delicate data in your servers.

What’s PCI Compliance?

When your system ensures user payment information protection through following the PCI-DSS, it is called a PCI compliant company. If you are a company that stores, processes, or transmit bank card credentials, then PCI-DSS is made just for you. The administered protocols let you build a stable digital system. The 12 point PCI compliance checklist, with 251 sub-requirements, allows cybersecurity personnel to create a robust design. In case you do not have in-house cybersecurity experts, you can hire an agency to do it as well.

How to Achieve and Maintain PCI-DSS Compliance

Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has approved a set of protocols to make your system DSS compliant. Even though backend developers realise these protocols, you should understand how the overall process works. Also, the SSC revises the standards as required to keep up with the latest security technology.

• Gap Analysis

The process starts with laying out the gaps in your system. Using a solid assessment framework, like NIST 800-30, can help professionals document whats falling short in your system. This data enables you to get an insight into the established procedure. Cybersecurity professionals inspect the 12 aspects of PCI-DSS to generate detailed documentation about the same. This way, you will get to see how far you are from a secure system. And that is why gap analysis is the initial groundwork to build a PCI compliant system.

• Scope

With the gap analysis laid out, the next is to analyse the scope of your system. The entire system is thoroughly studied and broken down. This way, your cybersecurity experts will understand how the credentials are dealt within in the system. Now, there are different levels of security within DSS standards. With the analysis, you can map your system to a security domain level based on the expert opinion.

Understanding the scope of the system is all about tracking every process. This way, you will get to see the workflow of your system. And this workflow is represented in flow diagrams to make it easy and straightforward. Apart from the type of users and encryption protocols, the scope also takes into account the variety of devices and applications used as well. It includes different kinds of networking devices, servers, and applications that you use to reach your customers and their workstations. This data is a complete package to build a robust system.

• Vulnerability Scan

Vulnerability scans use automated algorithms to find weaknesses in your system. It is a reliable process to see whether your system has any weak links before you deploy them in real-time. It can save you a lot of time and money if used right.

• Penetration Testing

PCI penetration testing, aka pen testing, is an authorised hacking done on systems to find its weaknesses. Unlike vulnerability scans, pen tests take the extra effort and exploit the flaw to get into the system and extract data from it. And that is why pen testing is significant to analyse your system’s competency.

The scope of your system is crucial in the budget as well. An incorrect scope might result in higher or lower level standardisation and will cost you more in the long term. Therefore, we strongly recommend you to hire experts to get the job done.

• Employee Training

Even the most efficient security is an utter failure if your employees are not educated to follow healthy practices. Employee negligence is the main reason for data theft across any platform. Therefore, if your employees do not know the do’s and don’ts of the system, there will be a failure. However, to improve the situation, you can remedy compulsory training for your employees. We strongly recommend monthly session regarding the process so that they can make it into a habit as well. And this way, they will not be the source of a potential downfall of your system.

• Documentation

Documentation is a critical factor in maintaining quality and functionality. Keeping structured data to educate your employees and also to understand the history of your system is a great practice to follow. It, in turn, can aid your system if you are to change your cybersecurity professionals under any situation as well.

• Cybersecurity Professional

Being PCI compliant is about staying up to date with digital data security. And for that, you need personnel with the right experience and expertise in the field. Hiring a cybersecurity agency can save you money and time as they keep their staff trained to the industry standard. And with them, you can stop worrying about card holder’s information getting leaked as well.

PCI-DSS compliance is an excellent opportunity for your business to showcase your company’s interests for your clients. Following the standard is about respecting the privacy of your customers and can increase your credibility in your industry. Thus, being PCI compliant not only safeguards your customer’s information, but they help your company to gain a reputation as well. And that is why we strongly recommend you to get compliant right away.Reach out to us at  sales@ndz.co to learn more.