The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) is an organization formed in 2006 by the five major credit card brands (American Express, Discover, JCB International, MasterCard and Visa) to enhance global payment account data security by developing standards and supporting services that drive education, awareness, and effective implementation by stakeholders for safeguarding cardholder information. Visit for more information on PCI SCC. The required level of compliance to PCI –DSS is determined by the volume of transactions by merchants. The four (4) levels are listed below:
- Level 1: Merchants that process over 6 million card transactions annually.
- Level 2: Merchants that process 1 to 6 million transactions annually.
- Level 3: Merchants that process 20,000 to 1 million transactions annually.
- Level 4: Merchants that process fewer than 20,000 transactions annually.
SDSU is considered a small merchant (Level 3), so a self-assessment questionnaire(SAQ) and a quarterly network scan are sufficient to assess the level of cardholder data security and compliance.
PCI Security Standards
- Goal: Build and Maintain a Secure Network
- Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
- Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.
- Goal: Protect Cardholder Data
- Protect stored cardholder data.
- Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.
- Goal: Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
- Use and regularly update anti-virus software or programs.
- Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.
- Goal: Implement Strong Access Control Measures
- Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know.
- Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.
- Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
- Goal: Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
- Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.
- Regularly test security systems and processes.
- Goal: Maintain an Information Security Policy
- Maintain a policy that addresses information security for employees and contractors.