Merchant PCI certification

ControlCase offers the following standardized methodology of PCI Certification for all its clients year 1. The methodology consists of the following three phases.

Gap Analysis (Steps 1 to 3):

ControlCase will perform a gap analysis and perform the required testing to be able to inform the client of the controls that need remediation to achieve PCI compliance. The assessment will include a review of the cardholder production network (including vulnerability and penetration testing) and supporting technical documentation. The assessment process may include interviews with company personnel to determine what PCI requirements are in place and where remediation is required.

The first phase of the project will involve reviewing and validating the current cardholder network environment, policies and procedures against the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS). The methodology for validation will include:

• Review of current cardholder environment technology and security features;
• Mapping touch points to the corporate network;
• Examining access points and network components for security shortcomings from a PCI perspective;
• Verification that current documented controls meet the specific PCI DSS requirements;
• Scans and penetration tests to validate that the client has attained an appropriate level of security.

For this phase, ControlCase consultants will require the following documentation from the client,

• Current network diagrams of the appropriate environments with respect to cardholder data;
• Firewall/router configuration details;
• Data retention and disposal procedures;
• Policy and Procedures for physical security;
• Encryption Key Management Policy;
• Incident Response Policy;
• Password Policy;
• Change Control Policy;
• Build/Patch Policy;
• Internal Security Testing Procedures.

ControlCase will provide standard templates for the above mentioned policies and procedures, if so desired by the client.

Remediation plan and support (Steps 4 & 5):

ControlCase will keep a track of all remediation efforts and provide monthly status report to the client for the remediation steps. During this time, client is expected to implement PCI controls and inform ControlCase continuously of all remediation measures.

Certification (Steps 6 to 9):

ControlCase will, as required for the project, deploy a PCI audit team of qualified personnel to carry out an on-site security assessment. After going through internal quality procedures the client will be issued a Report on Compliance (ROC) and appropriate certification will be submitted to various credit card brands.

Certification requirements are dependent on the level of the merchants. Following are the certification requirements from Visa and MasterCard,

PCI Data Security Standard Compliance for Merchants

Merchant Level	Selection Criteria	Validation Actions	Validated By
1	Any merchant – regardless of acceptance channel - processing more than 6,000,000 Visa transactions per year Any merchant that has suffered a hack or an attack that resulted in an account data compromise Any merchant identified by any card association as Level 1	Annual On-Site Security Audit and Quarterly Network Scan	Independent Security Assessor or Internal Audit if signed by an Officer of the company Qualified Independent Scan Vendor
2	1 million – 6 million Visa or MasterCard transactions per year	Annual PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire and Quarterly Network Scan	Merchant Qualified Independent Scan Vendor
3	20,000 – 1 million Visa or MasterCard e-commerce transactions per year	Annual PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire and Quarterly Network Scan	Merchant Qualified Independent Scan Vendor
4	Less than 20,000 Visa or MasterCard e-commerce transactions per year, and all other merchants processing up to 1 million Visa or MasterCards transactions per year	Recommended Annual PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire and Quarterly Network Scan	Merchant Qualified Independent Scan Vendor Note: While compliance is mandatory for Level 4 Merchants, validation is optional but strongly recommended