PCI DSS compliance ensures your customer’s credit card data is protected from hackers and compromise attempts. Though complying with this regulation isn’t easy, it is possible. To simplify this essential effort, we’ve compiled a checklist of the key security metrics that should be addressed to meet the compliance requirements of this critical information security standard.

While PCI compliance sets an industry benchmark surrounding cybersecurity for the financial sector, organizations shouldn’t rely on it to protect themselves against data breaches. The harsh truth is that cybercriminals will exploit any weakness in an organization’s IT infrastructure to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, not just those covered by PCI DSS compliance requirements.

In March 2022, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was updated with a number of new and modified requirements. Since their last update in 2018, there has been a rapid increase in the use of cloud technologies, contactless payments have become the norm, and the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a massive growth in e-commerce and online payments.

Organizations of all sizes that store, process, or transmit credit card data must comply with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards). The PCI standard’s 12 principal requirements can prove challenging for organizations to achieve and maintain, especially those in the highly-regulated financial industry. An upcoming PCI compliance audit may be cause for concern for many organizations, who are left scrambling to ensure their cybersecurity practices are up to scratch.

The PCI Council aims at minimizing the risk of cardholder data by securing sensitive cardholder data including Sensitive Authentication Data (SAD). For these reasons, PCI DSS Standards are strictly enforced in the payment card industry. According to the PCI DSS Security Standard Requirement, organizations dealing with sensitive card data are required to maintain maximum security and implement measures that ensure the confidentiality, privacy, and security of the cardholder data.

The new PCI DSS Standard, version 4.0, contains all the steps, best practices, and explanations required for full compliance. In fact, even an organization that does not process cardholder data could follow the PCI Standard to implement a robust cybersecurity program for any of its important data.

As we continue our review of the 12 Requirements of PCI DSS version 4.0, one has to stop and consider, is it possible to have a favorite section of a standard? After all, most guidance documents, as well as regulations are seen as tedious distractions from the importance of getting the job done. However, depending on a person’s position and function in an organization, it is possible to “geek out” on some of the information in these official papers.

In Part 1 of this series, we reviewed the first four sections of the new PCI standards. As we continue our examination of PCI DSS version 4.0, we will consider what organizations will need to do in order to successfully transition and satisfy this update.