What Is PCI DSS?
PCI DSS, or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, outlines global security standards for any organization that processes, stores, or transmits payment card data. Compliance with PCI DSS is mandatory for organizations handling payment card data.
PCI DSS was established to safeguard sensitive cardholder information and minimize the risk of data breaches and fraud. The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) maintains the standard, which was founded by major credit card companies such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB.
Consequences of Non-Compliance with PCI DSS
The financial consequences of failing to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) extend far beyond direct fines and penalties. Non-compliant businesses face a range of debilitating setbacks, including suspension of credit card privileges, liability for fraud charges, and mandatory security audits and improvements. The reputational damage resulting from potential data breaches can also lead to loss of customers, revenue, and long-term brand value. Neglecting PCI compliance puts companies at risk of substantial financial injury from regulatory action, legal liability, operational disruptions, and strategic impacts. Staying compliant not only avoids fines that can scale up to $100,000 per month but, more importantly, protects the financial health and viability of the business. Meeting PCI standards safeguards sensitive cardholder data and shelters companies from the severe multiparty consequences of non-compliance.
Compliance Requirements for PCI DSS
The PCI DSS consists of requirements and security controls covering various aspects of information security, including network security, access control, data protection, and regular monitoring and testing of security systems. If it had to be distilled down, the checklist below encapsulates what needs to be done.
- Implement and update a firewall.
- Avoid default vendor settings and passwords.
- Safeguard cardholder data.
- Encrypt transmitted cardholder data.
- Utilize antivirus and anti-malware software.
- Develop and upkeep secure systems and applications.
- Control access to cardholder data.
- Assign unique user access IDs.
- Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
- Monitor access to network resources.
- Regularly test security systems and processes.
- Establish and manage information security policies.
Blue Cedar Can Help with PCI DSS Compliance
Blue Cedar can help businesses ensure PCI DSS compliance with Blue Cedar Mobile App Security, which empowers businesses to fortify their mobile apps against potential threats and a secure environment for handling payment card data.
Blue Cedar Mobile App Security can help businesses safeguard sensitive information in mobile apps with advanced security measures that include data protection (e.g., data encryption, secure access controls, encrypted network transmission, etc.) and runtime protection (e.g., jailbreak/root detection, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) detection, etc.). Specifically, Blue Cedar Mobile App Security can help with the following items in the PCI DSS compliance checklist
- #3: Safeguard cardholder data.
- Blue Cedar Mobile App Security provides device-independent AES-256 encryption to secure locally stored data, protecting it even if the device is compromised.
- Blue Cedar also provides whitebox cryptography, which aims to protect cryptographic keys and algorithms from attackers who may have full access to the compiled software code and hardware environment where the encryption is executed - i.e., on devices not under a business’ control.
- #4: Encrypt transmitted cardholder data.
- Blue Cedar Mobile App Security provides an optional clientless VPN (i.e., an in-app VPN) that ensures transmissions from a mobile app use secure communication protocols, such as HTTPS, to protect data in transit.
- Blue Cedar Mobile App Security also provides mobile RASP features such as certificate pinning to thwart MitM attacks, providing an additional layer of protection for encrypted traffic.
- #6: Develop and upkeep secure systems and applications.
- Policies can be sent on mobile apps secured with Blue Cedar Mobile App Security to ensure that they stay updated. For example, a policy can specify the minimum version of the device OS below which the mobile app will not launch or run, requiring the user to update the mobile app to the latest version.
- #7: Control access to cardholder data.
- Blue Cedar Mobile App Security provides data loss prevention policies to restrict access to data, using cut/copy/paste prevention, privacy screen, and local authentication controls to enforce restrictions.
- Blue Cedar offers authentication policies that govern local user authentication for mobile apps secured with Blue Cedar Mobile App Security, ensuring the protection of the app and its locally stored data. This security remains effective whether the app is offline or if the device is lost or stolen.
- Blue Cedar provides additional security layers to protect cardholder data, implementing app hardening techniques such as tamper detection and jailbreak/root detection to prevent data loss due to reverse engineering.
Blue Cedar also makes it easy to seamlessly integrate these security features into mobile apps with its Enhance no-code integration service, streamlining the journey towards compliance.
