thePCI Portal

Category: PCI DSS

What is a “payment page”?

What is a “payment page”? A simple question?  Maybe not. I think a layperson would say that its the webpage where you input your payment details.  A merchant completing an SAQ-A compliance assessment might disagree.  Merchants load these pages with scripts to enable marketing analytics, conversion trackers and chatbots to increase conversion and help consumers complete…

COVID and Compliance (April 27, 2020)

Compliance assessment activities and regular compliance activities (i.e. penetration tests, employee training, etc) may be disrupted during COVID. Retail locations may be closed, staff may be unavailable. Obviously human safety trumps any PCI DSS compliance concerns.  Merchants and QSAs do have questions about compliance in COVID times. We are still awaiting to hear  from the acquirers…

Can switches get updates from the internet and remain PCI compliant?

Assessed entity question:  Can switches get updates from the internet, and remain PCI compliant? QSA’s Sarcastic Question: Where else do patches come from?  🙂  I presume you mean the device actively getting updated from the internet. QSA’s Real Questions: What kind of switches do this? What is the exact mechanism? What is the direction of…

Functionality testing to verify that the change does not adversely impact the security of the system

What are Assessor’s thoughts on requirement 6.4.5.3? 6.4.5.3 Functionality testing to verify that the change does not adversely impact the security of the system. 6.4.5.3.a For each sampled change, verify that functionality testing is performed to verify that the change does not adversely impact the security of the system. Thorough testing should be performed to…

eye on PCI v4

full speed ahead on PCI v4

August 25 2020: The council is still analyzing feedback from previous RFC (plan is to comment on all feedback).  Council is preparing the next RFC while updating supporting documents (glossary, prioritized approach, SAQs, etc) and training.   An extended transition period is planned. 3.2.1 to be retired 2 years AFTER the release of v4.0.  Future…

Vulnerability scans are not for req 6.1

Requirement 6.1 is my favourite PCI DSS requirement!  No fancy tools required.  No specialized knowledge.  It can be largely executed by a person on the helpdesk.    And the impact to the overall security posture organization can be huge.  More than that expensive network appliance.  More than that fancy SIEM.  More than that overpriced vulnerability…

PCI compliance and big P Politics

What is behind MPI’s decision to stop the acceptance of preauthorized credit card payments? Politics? Lobbyists? Pressure from the broker association? Lucrative broker commission payments? Maybe according to the Winnipeg Free Press. Saving money?  Apparently, but the savings are coming from the reduced scope of PCI DSS compliance by eliminating cardholder data storage (according to CBC reporting). …