PCI DSS compliance as BAU (business as usual)

From URM’s own experience, this is particularly true for organisations where payment systems and processes are complex or if there are small teams responsible for a large quantity of PCI DSS requirements.

Embedding the security requirements from PCI DSS into BAU processes reduces the ‘last-minute headaches’ of collecting and collating evidence prior to the annual PCI DSS assessment.

This aids the business to monitor the effectiveness of their security controls on an ongoing basis and to maintain their PCI DSS compliant environment in between PCI DSS assessments.

The 5 areas where URM sees organisations failing to implement PCI DSS requirements into their BAU process:

1. Evaluate changes to the environment prior to completion of the change.

• Including the addition of new systems, changes in system or network configurations and changes in personnel
• Determining the potential impact to PCI DSS scope
• Identifying PCI DSS requirements applicable to systems and networks affected by the changes
• Updating the PCI DSS scope and implementing security controls as appropriate

2. Any changes to organisational structure should result in a formal review to determine if the PCI DSS scope has been affected.

• Many companies go through mergers and/or acquisitions that may have a fundamental impact on the original PCI DSS scope

3. Making sure that all failures in security protocols are detected and investigated.

• Addressing the security issue caused by failure of the control
• Root cause analysis of the reason of failure.
• Implementing mitigating controls to prevent future occurrences
• Monitoring the mitigating control, potentially with enhanced monitoring for a period of time, to verify the control is operating efficiently

4. Regularly assess hardware and software technologies to confirm that they continue to be covered by the vendor and can meet the organisation’s PCI DSS requirements.

• Hardware and software vendors provide ample time for organisations to prepare for such events.  Preparation can include upgrading the technology, creating a remediation plan or even replacement of the technology as necessary.

5. Continuous monitoring of security controls

• It is vital to the organisation’s security strategy to ensure the following security systems are operating effectively and as intended, including:
  – Firewalls
  – Intrusion-detection systems/intrusion-prevention systems (IDS/IPS)
  – File-integrity monitoring (FIM)
  – Anti-virus (AV)