Saturday, December 1, 2012

Network Security for Businesses Handling Credit Cards


Network security is required for businesses and organizations with electronic record systems. As card payments are an increasingly-popular option for such entities of all sizes, network security is imperative. Such establishments, in order to be compliant in this regards, must follow PCI security standards.

Standards for credit card network security are the PCI DSS. As tools and measurements for ensuring safe handling of information, PCI DSS serves as the framework for developing an account data security process, which encompasses prevention, detection, and reaction to security breaches. Compliance with these standards is crucial, as a secure system shows customers can trust your business and secures your reputation with acquirers and payment brands. As with all network security standards, compliance with PCI DSS is ongoing, and a business utilizing credit cards must always be on top of the latest threats.

As the technical and operational requirements for protecting cardholder data, PCI security standards are managed by the PCI Security Standards Council and enforced by the payment card brands. Much like any network security policy, PCI security standards require such businesses to assess their systems and submit reports. For the former, a network security professional must identify cardholder data, take inventory of all related business processes, and analyze the system for vulnerabilities. Such an individual not only offers solutions for fixing vulnerabilities but also needs to check that the system does not share cardholder data unless necessary.

Reporting involves submitting remediation validation records and submitting compliance reports to banks and card brands with which a company does business.

Businesses taking credit cards aren't the only entities required to follow such network security standards. Software vendors must abide by the Payment Application Data Security Standard. Geared specifically toward developing payment applications and store and process cardholder data, PA-DSS standards fall in with PCI-DSS compliance, with both assisting with minimizing security breaches and corresponding damage. However, companies that internally develop their own payment applications do not need to follow PA-DSS. Instead, PCI-DSS is the corresponding set of standards in this regards.

Although PCI-DSS has several standards, 3.3 is particularly important. This requirement specifies that a full credit card number, or PAN, be masked unless the viewing party has a specific need to see the full number, such as to see if all appropriate digits were entered for a transaction. Additionally, 3.3 states that webpage timeouts may be used to prevent credit card numbers from being exposed and that SSL needs to be embedded to secure any entered data.

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