Best Ways to Maintain PCI Compliance
To maintain PCI compliance after achieving it, organizations must continuously dedicate resources to update their information security program—including training personnel, evolving processes, and refreshing technology—while regularly assessing and testing their security environment through methods like penetration testing and red/blue/purple team exercises, and investing in ongoing vulnerability management to prevent data breaches.
Congratulations, you have achieved PCI compliance!
Now comes the hard part: staying compliant. Achieving compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requires significant effort and investment in systems, networks, and personnel to ensure cardholder data protection.
PCI DSS is not a one-time task. Maintaining PCI compliance requires ongoing commitment across people, processes, and technology. There are three key actions organizations can take to stay compliant:
- 1.Dedicate the necessary resources to keep the information security program current.
- 2.Assess and test the information security environment perpetually.
- 3.Invest in ongoing vulnerability management.
Only with continued dedication can a PCI environment remain compliant and prevent data breaches.
Dedicate the Necessary Resources to the Program Perpetually
To continue meeting PCI DSS requirements, organizations must invest in information security. Resources typically include people, processes, and technology:
- People: Ensure staff have up-to-date training to maintain and enhance the environment.
- Processes: Maintain and update playbooks for installing, maintaining, troubleshooting, and executing tasks. Processes should evolve as systems change.
- Technology: Information technology and security evolve rapidly, especially with advancements in AI and machine learning. Plan to refresh and update technology every few years, which will require new training and process adjustments.
Assess and Test the Information Security Environment
To determine if your security environment and controls are effective, assess and test your environment from both internal and external perspectives. Leading organizations use:
- Red teams: Simulate attackers.
- Blue teams: Defend against attacks.
- Purple teams: Combine red and blue team approaches.
Key assessment and testing methods include:
- Penetration testing
- Internal and external scanning
- Security awareness training
- Compliance review
- Risk assessment
Ongoing Vulnerability Management
Ongoing vulnerability management is critical for maintaining PCI compliance. Many recent data breaches occurred because organizations lacked mature vulnerability management programs. Common breach vectors include unpatched systems, weak passwords, and excessive access.
Basic vulnerability management and regular scans can prevent many breaches. Focus areas include:
- Patching and patch management
- Firewall and router configurations
- Application security
- Data integrity assessment
- Reviewing logs, alerts, and access permissions
PCI DSS compliance aims to protect cardholder data and payment card transactions, both onsite and online. While other data also needs protection, card data (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB) is a primary focus.
Lower-level merchants (with fewer transactions) use Self-Assessment Questionnaires (SAQs) to assess their compliance. The specific SAQ depends on how customers perform credit card transactions (e.g., card present vs. not present, fully vs. partially outsourced authorizations). Organizations qualifying for the SAQ have continuous annual requirements.
Maintaining compliance should include quarterly vulnerability scans (where applicable) and annual assessments, such as those conducted by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). Internal mock assessments can help fine-tune areas needing improvement. Maintaining a compliant cardholder data environment requires ongoing effort, but PCI DSS provides best practices and testing procedures to help organizations obtain and maintain compliance.