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What is PCI DSS compliance?

PCI DSS provides a baseline of technical and operational requirements designed to protect account data. While specifically designed to focus on environments with payment account data, PCI DSS can also be used to protect against threats and secure other elements in the payment ecosystem.

PCI DSS comprises a minimum set of requirements for protecting account data and may be enhanced by additional controls and practices to further mitigate risks, and to incorporate local, regional, and sector laws and regulations. Additionally, legislation or regulatory requirements may require specific protection of personal information or other data elements (for example, cardholder name).

What are the penalties for non-compliance?

Merchants agree to pay fees if they fail to comply with the PCI DSS when they sign a contract with a payment processor.

There will be no fines imposed on your payment processors or credit card companies for working with an unsuitable business. These companies will almost certainly transfer fines to your business to compensate for losses from your negligence.

You can expect financial penalties from these payment processors or credit card companies anywhere from $ 5,000 to $ 10,000 per month for violating PCI compliance guidelines. For example, fines are evaluated each month based on your non-compliance status, and the monthly fee increases. Therefore, a company can pay a penalty of $ 10,000 per month for non-compliance for three months. Additionally, fines ranging from $ 50 to $ 90 can be imposed on each customer affected in some way by a data breach.

Again, keep in mind that these are not “fines,” i.e., the same as what you would pay to violate specific government regulations or laws.

What are the 12 steps to PCI DSS 4.0.1 compliance?

1.Install and Maintain Network Security Controls

2.Apply Secure Configurations to All System Components

3. Protect Stored Account Data.

4. Protect Cardholder Data with Strong Cryptography During Transmission Over Open, Public Networks

5. Protect All Systems and Networks from Malicious Software.

6. Develop and Maintain Secure Systems and Software.

7. Restrict Access to System Components and Cardholder Data by Business Need to Know.

8. Identify Users and Authenticate Access to System Components.

9. Restrict Physical Access to Cardholder Data.

10. Log and Monitor All Access to System Components and Cardholder Data.

11. Test Security of Systems and Networks Regularly.

12. Support Information Security with Organizational Policies and Programs.

What am I accomplishing by implementing these steps?

The twelve steps to PCI DSS compliance are a high-level guide and do not give specific toolsets or actions. Implementing these steps will create visibility, accessibility protection, proactive malware and breach mitigation.  

 

ICM Cyber has been helping their customers stay PCI compliant for over 23 years by using best industry practices and toolset integration.

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