PCI Compliance Certification for Retailers, Restaurants, and Retail Stores
PCI Compliance Certification for Retailers, Restaurants, and Retail Stores
PCI DSS compliance for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses is absolutely essential in today’s world of regulatory compliance. With that in mind, ask yourself the following questions: Do you process credit card transactions at a retail location? Unclear as to what the PCI certification and reporting mandates are for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses? Take a page out of the pcipolicyportal.com playbook in learning more about PCI compliance certification for retailors, restaurants, and retail stores and get compliant today.
If you store, process, and/or transmit cardholder data, or have the ability to impact the security of cardholder data, then you must become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) – it’s just that simple. While compliance with PCI can be incredibly time-consuming and expensive – it doesn’t always have to be – especially if you have helpful materials that allow for rapid compliance, such as our award-winning PCI Compliance Toolkits for storefront merchants and the hospitality industry.
Our PCI Toolkits save Businesses Thousands of Dollars on Compliance
Do you own a storefront business selling goods or services? Perhaps a restaurant that’s growing and adding locations? Bottom line, if you are a traditional brick and mortar retail outlet selling a product, goods, or services, then you need to become PCI DSS compliant, but you also need to obtain high-quality policy templates, training material, and other essential documents for helping ensure rapid and swift PCI DSS compliance. Our award-winning PCI Compliance Toolkits for storefront merchants and the hospitality industry contain over 1,000 + pages of PCI DSS specific policies, procedures, forms, checklists, templates, training material – and more – essentially, everything you need to become compliant with PCI.
You “can” spend thousands of dollars on high-priced consultants for PCI compliance – and many of them are very good – but why do that when our PCI Compliance Toolkits are the easy answer towards rapid and complete compliance. Visit pcipolicyportal.com to learn more about our products and services.
If you’re storing, processing, and/or transmitting cardholder data, becoming PCI compliance is an absolute must, so take note of the following:
7 Things Retailors and Storefront Businesses Need to Know
1. You’re a merchant, so here’s what you need to know: Merchants must become PCI DSS compliant, no exceptions. If you are storing, processing and/or transmitting cardholder data – or have the ability to impact the security of cardholder data, then becoming compliant is a must. One of the biggest challenges facing merchants is not so much what merchant level are they – that’s relatively straightforward – it’s which one of the PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaires (SAQ) to use. Is it SAQ-A, SAQ A-EP, or SAQ-D? There’s been many changes taking place in the world of PCI DSS compliance, so here’s what you need to know about each of the above three (3) SAQ’s:
• SAQ-A: Card-not-present merchants (e-commerce or mail/telephone-order) that have fully outsourced all cardholder data functions to PCI DSS validated third-party service providers, with no electronic storage, processing, or transmission of any cardholder data on the merchant’s systems or premises.
• SAQ A-EP: E-commerce merchants who outsource all payment processing to PCI DSS validated third parties, and who have a website(s) that doesn’t directly receive cardholder data but that can impact the security of the payment transaction. No electronic storage, processing, or transmission of any cardholder data on the merchant’s systems or premises.
• SAQ D: All merchants not included in descriptions for the above SAQ scope. Essentially, if you cannot use the above stated SAQ’s, the SAQ D becomes the default choice.
2. Determine your Merchant Level: Here are the various merchant levels and validation requirements:
• Merchant Level 1 & Merchant Criteria: (1). Any merchant, regardless of acceptance channel, processing more than 6,000,000 Visa transactions per year. (2). Any merchant that has had a data breach or attack that resulted in an account data compromise. (3). Any merchant identified by any card association as Level 1.
• Merchant Level 2 & Merchant Criteria: 1 million – 6 million Visa or MasterCard transactions annually (all channels).
• Merchant Level3 & Merchant Criteria: Merchants processing 20,000 to 1 million Visa or MasterCard e-commerce transactions annually.
• Merchant Level 4 & Merchant Criteria: Less than 20,000 Visa or MasterCard e-commerce transactions annually, and all other merchants processing up to 1 million Visa or MasterCard transactions annually.
• Level 1 Validation Requirements: (1). Annual Report on Compliance (“ROC”) by Qualified Security Assessor (“QSA”) – also commonly known as a Level 1 onsite assessment – or internal auditor if signed by officer of the company. (2). Quarterly network scan by Approved Scan Vendor (“ASV”). (3). Attestation of Compliance Form.
• Level 2 Validation Requirements for VISA and MasterCard: (1). Annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (“SAQ”). (2). Quarterly network scan by ASV. (3). Attestation of Compliance Form.
• Level 3 Validation Requirements for VISA and MasterCard: (1). Annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (“SAQ”). (2). Quarterly network scan by ASV. (3). Attestation of Compliance Form.
• Level 4 Validation Requirements for VISA and MasterCard: (1). Annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (“SAQ”). (2). Quarterly network scan by ASV. (3). Attestation of Compliance Form. Note: Ultimately, Compliance validation requirements set by acquirer.
3. Develop Policies & Procedures: Documentation is a big – and growing – component of regulatory compliance, especially when it comes to the PCI DSS standards for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses. Whichever SAQ you decide to use for certification, or if you have to perform the dreaded onsite assessment with a PCI-QSA, you’ll need to have policies and procedures in place, no question about it. The challenge, however, is that most organizations have little or nothing in place in terms of documentation – and if they do – it’s often old, inaccurate, and not well-written. The solution? That’s easy, simply download our industry leading PCI policies and procedures packets today at pcipolicyportal.com. We’ve developed PCI SAQ policy packets, along with toolkits for onsite assessments.
4. Undertake Technical Remediation: Are your servers properly configured and provisioned in accordance with vendor specifications for ensuring maximum security? Do you have anti-virus, file integrity monitoring, and other software solutions in place? Are your firewalls properly configured for ensuring allowing approved ports, protocols, and services are used? These are just a few of the many questions you’ll need to be asking yourself throughout the PCI DSS process, and it’s questions that ultimately require considerable remediation efforts to be performed by retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses
5. Implement Security Awareness Training: Sure, security awareness training is a strict mandate for PCI DSS compliance for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses, but it’s also one of the wisest investments you can make for your business, and why? Well, think about it, doesn’t it just make sense to have knowledgeable, well-trained employees who can assess security threats and risks and respond accordingly? Sure it does, and proper security awareness training materials – such as those provided by pcipolicyportal.com – make all the difference in building a true security posture within one’s business.
Look, all the money spent on cutting-edge PCI DSS security solutions for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses mean little to nothing if you don’t have well-trained employees who know how to use such tools, and how to respond to incidents and other threats. We live in a highly digitized world, and we’re becoming even more reliant on information security, so do yourself and your business a favor by implementing sound security awareness training practices. You don’t have to spend a fortune on PCI security awareness training materials – not at all – simply use our well-written, easy-to-use PPT presentations and manuals that provide comprehensive, current, and factual training modules for all your employees. Remember, employees are an organization’s greatest asset, so treat them with respect, and also give them the tools they need to succeed which begins by downloading the PCI Policy Packets for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses.
6. Perform Scanning: Vulnerability scanning is one of the core mandates for becoming PCI DSS compliant for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses and it’s easy to see why. Think about it, malicious hackers and other nefarious individuals are often trying to penetrate your network at any given time. Because of this, the use of vulnerability scanners allows an organization to identify and assess possible threat vectors from the outside, but also from the inside. And while vulnerability scanning is a strict PCI compliance mandate imposed on many of the SAQ questionnaires, it’s an information security best practice that every business should be performing, regardless of industry, size, location, or compliance requirement. Threats often start at the external perimeter points of a network, thus identifying these issues is critical for ensuring the safety and security of one’s network.
Vulnerability scanning needs to become one of the core InfoSec initiatives that you implement as it’s so incredibly essential for protecting one’s network. Therefore, invest in a long-term solution for vulnerability scanning, perform such scans on a regular basis, assess and remediate adverse findings. Acquiring nothing more than a trial tool for a limited time, running scans just for purposes of meeting compliance – or any other haphazard approach – approaches we often see as compliance auditors, is not what you need to be doing. Take the time to truly implement a credible tool and run scans regularly!
7. Know that PCI DSS Compliance is Mandatory and Annual: Forget about the “one-and-done” concept as this is not geared towards PCI DSS compliance. Once you’ve achieved initial PCI DSS compliance, then annual compliance becomes the new moving target. You’ve got to continually update and enhance your policies, procedures, and processes – initiatives that take time and effort. It’s therefore important to find a true PCI DSS “Champion” within your organization, somebody who truly understands the importance of annual PCI compliance, and who can also push forward the mandates for staying compliant. Furthermore, this person must be able to work with both internal personnel and external parties for ensuring all aspects of compliance are being met.
That’s a tough job, no question about it, and it’s why businesses all around the world turn to pcipolicyportal.com and downloading our industry leading PCI policies and procedures & PCI toolkits for helping assist in their annual compliance endeavors. Getting to the top of the PCI mountain is one thing, but staying there and fending off all of the challenges and risks that can knock you off the compliance mountain is another. You need good people, internally, those willing to drive the PCI mantra with force, so keep this in mind.
PCI Our PCI Toolkits save Businesses Thousands of Dollars on Compliance
Retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses must become compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), there is no other option. What compounds the challenges of PCI compliance for such merchants is the exhaustive workload needed for actually becoming compliant. Information security policies and procedures need to be developed, risk assessments need to be performed, security awareness training needs to be implemented, and much more. It’s enough to make your head spin, and it’s why pcipolicyportal.com has developed the world’s leading set of compliance policy documents for ensuring rapid and swift PCI DSS compliance.
From SAQ policy packets to award-winning PCI Compliance Toolkits for storefront merchants and the hospitality industry, pcipolicyportal.com can save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of operational man-hours in becoming PCI compliant. Businesses all around the world have used our award-winning PCI Compliance Toolkits for storefront merchants and the hospitality industry, so give us a try today. The documentation is available for instant download at pcipolicyportal.com for retailors, restaurants, and other retail storefront businesses
From coast to coast and all around the globe, when it comes to PCI policies and procedures and other essential compliance documents, the only name to know is pcipolicyportal.com.
