Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) v4.0

At the end of March 2022, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) carried out a fundamental overhaul of the PCI DSS framework. This overhaul has been implemented to increase the effectiveness of the security controls that have been designed to meet the ever-changing threat landscapes and dynamic business operations.

The consistent six goals and twelve requirements remain the backbone of the PCI DSS structure. However, fundamental enhancements have been introduced to help increase the effectiveness of this security controls framework.

This book will help you to navigate your way through these changes and to assist you in gaining a better understanding of the intent of these security controls and how they should be implemented. Additionally, there will be a number of recommendations to help you simplify the process and increase the effectiveness of your PCI DSS program.

Historically, many organizations have treated PCI DSS as a 'Tick Box' rather than as a robust security controls framework that has been specifically developed to help your business to safeguard your customers' payment card data, which has been entrusted to you in payment for your goods or services. Consequently, they may well ramp up their defensive activities in order to achieve their annual PCI DSS, only for them to later drop their guard down afterward and end up being compromised.

I once had PCI DSS described to me as being 'like a child learning to walk'. However, most parents would want their children to be able to go beyond walking and would encourage them to develop further so that the child could run and jump. The same approach should be adopted for aligning your business' payment card data operations to PCI DSS, your annual accreditation should confirm that you have achieved the ability to walk. However, you should be looking for opportunities to further develop your PCI DSS program so that you are able to demonstrate 'walking' as being second nature and that you are now able to 'jog', 'jump', 'bound', and 'sprint'.

A huge benefit of the PCI DSS is that, unlike many other information security controls frameworks, it has very prescriptive and detailed controls, which have been specifically designed and developed to address the majority of the risks that are associated with the most common types of business operations, where the storage, processing or transmission payment card data is involved. Although, it is important to note that some businesses will have their own individual nuances that need to be dealt with to ensure the continued safeguarding of payment cardholder data (CHD).

To help address this, the latest version of the PCI DSS provides additional flexibility to allow organizations to apply custom security controls to help mitigate the associated risks. However, to achieve this you need to understand and appreciate the perceived risks so that you are able to formulate a suitable risk response (e.g., the 4 Ts (Treat, Tolerate, Terminate, Transfer) that will provide an appropriate level of defense (5 Ds (Deter, Detect, Delay, Disrupt, Defend).

The objective of this book is to help the reader to understand the 4 Ts and 5Ds as they relate to their individual PCI DSS programs, ensuring that they can apply the 'best fit' security controls for their business operations, and to gain an improved understanding of the value an effective PCI DSS strategy brings to your organization:<ul class="a-unordered-list a-vertical">

Work Smarter, Not Harder!

I hope that you find the content informative and interesting so that you are able to be adequately prepared to meet the challenges that PCI DSS v4.0 may present.

Remember, that if your business values your customers' trust, you should be returning that trust by embracing PCI DSS to help safeguard their cardholder data across their individual lifecycles.