PCID-05

Are you compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)?

Explanation

This question is asking whether your organization complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which is a set of security requirements designed to ensure that ALL companies that process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Why it's asked: This question appears in security assessments because handling payment card data creates significant security and financial risks. If your systems are breached and payment card data is stolen, it can lead to fraud, financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liability. Institutions want to ensure that any vendor they work with who handles payment card data follows industry-standard security practices. PCI DSS includes requirements for: - Building and maintaining secure networks - Protecting cardholder data - Maintaining vulnerability management programs - Implementing strong access control measures - Regularly monitoring and testing networks - Maintaining information security policies How to best answer: Be truthful about your PCI DSS compliance status. If you are compliant, specify which level of compliance you've achieved (Level 1-4, with Level 1 being the most rigorous) and when your last assessment was completed. If you're not compliant but handle card data, explain your roadmap to compliance. If PCI DSS doesn't apply because you don't handle payment card data at all, clearly state this fact. Include documentation such as an Attestation of Compliance (AOC) or a Report on Compliance (ROC) if available, as these are formal documents that verify your compliance status.

Guidance

Refer to PCI DSS Security Standards for supplemental guidance in this section

Example Responses

Example Response 1

Yes, our organization is fully compliant with PCI DSS version 3.2.1 as a Level 1 Service Provider We undergo annual on-site assessments by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and quarterly network scans by an Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) Our most recent assessment was completed in March 2023, and we maintain a current Attestation of Compliance (AOC) which we can provide upon request We maintain compliance across all 12 PCI DSS requirement domains and have implemented additional controls beyond the minimum requirements to ensure the security of payment card data.

Example Response 2

Our company does not directly process, store, or transmit cardholder data We utilize a third-party payment processor (Stripe) that is PCI DSS compliant to handle all payment transactions The payment form on our website redirects users to our payment processor's secure environment, and cardholder data never touches our servers While PCI DSS compliance is not directly applicable to our systems, we still follow security best practices and ensure that our integration with the payment processor follows all security requirements specified by both PCI DSS and our payment processor.

Example Response 3

No, we are not currently PCI DSS compliant While we do process credit card transactions through our platform, we are in the process of working toward compliance We have completed a gap analysis with a QSA and have implemented approximately 70% of the required controls Our roadmap has us achieving full compliance within the next 6 months In the interim, we have implemented compensating controls including encryption of all cardholder data, network segmentation, and enhanced monitoring We currently use a combination of tokenization and third-party services to minimize our exposure to actual card data We can provide our detailed remediation plan upon request.

Context

Tab: Case-Specific
Category: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)