PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. PCI DSS is a compliance security standard specially designed for safe credit card transactions. It is implemented to ensure that companies that accept, store, and process credit card information maintain an extremely secure environment. It fundamentally helps companies achieve safe and secure transaction modes, thereby protecting sensitive and private information of the cardholders.
TechForing chooses a systematic approach to enable any company to
achieve PCI DSS compliance. We follow a formal process, involving
experts, to evaluate and cater to the required PCI DSS compliance
guidelines
Our approach while dealing with PCI DSS compliance support is:
A typical PCI DSS cycle requires businesses to complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire or SAQ which is created by the PCI Security Standards Council. We at TechForing guide you through completing the SAQ.
PCI compliance has 4 identified levels purely based on transaction volumes. Each of these levels requires you to undergo a different set of validations. Below are the levels and the requirements:
Processing volume of 6 million cards or more transactions per year
Processing volume between 1 and 6 million transactions per year
Processing volume between 20,000 and 1 million transactions per year. This has a requirement similar to level 2.
Volume is lesser than 20,000 transactions per year. This has a requirement similar to level 2.
Finding the compliance level is the first step. Our team helps to validate your compliance level through a detailed SAQ. Based on the level, we provide technical support around this. There are a total of 12 requirements to be satisfied for PCI compliance.
The 10 requirements can be broadly classified into the below-defined guidelines and in each step we guide you through the process-
Help to establish, implement, and configure firewalls and routers based on specific configuration standards. Provide network architecture diagrams to summarize the tightening of access controls, and help you build firewalls between the internal and untrusted network in a card access environment. Check open networks to add and manage firewall restrictions.
Provide help to scan and eliminate usage of default passwords provided by vendors while accessing third party applications, software, or systems.
Ensure effective and restrictive network access. Add restrictions on inbound and outbound traffic, thereby allowing to closely monitor network traffic. Prevent direct access without proper authentication and authorization. Inspect and implement packet filtering. Provide help to isolate cardholder data environment.
Apply strong encryption algorithms and encrypt the transmission of cardholder data via the public and open network.
Ensure regular software updates, patch updates, and install antivirus on all the core system components.
Check for all known security vulnerabilities and ensure to incorporate well-known configuration standards. Ensure system hardening as per hardening standards such as CIS- Center for Internet Security, ISO- International Organization for Standardization, NIST- National Institute of Standards Technology, and SANS- SysAdmin Audit Network Security Institute.
Monitor access to the complete network and cardholder data.
Help to maintain system component standards as per PCI requirements and have regular tests for security systems and processes.
We help you manage these controls. This can be broadly divided as-
Handle all information security related policies for your organization. Evaluate the security of protocols being used. Help to document business justification for use of these protocols. Document details about port and security measures taken while implementing any insecure Ensure security policies pertaining to IP address masking, allowed and restricted ports, and firewall and proxy servers are documented as per PCI guidelines. Ensure detailed documentation of security policies and enough evidence to prove these security factors.
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