Summary: There are many benefits of outsourcing PCI DSS compliance services. Most important among them is reducing the costs and effort required to meet security standards.
PCI DSS outsourcing lets businesses use a compliant payment processor for tokenization and secure data storage.
Replacing sensitive data with codes (tokens) and outsourcing data management protects against hackers and significantly reduces compliance burden.
This approach can:
- Reduce a company’s PCI compliance scope
- Simplify audits
- Maintain essential payment functions
Ultimately, outsourcing PCI compliance procedures enhances data security, so cardholder information is properly protected.
Cash may be king, but credit is power. More people are relying on credit cards as their primary payment method. Businesses have responded by making credit card payments easier and more accessible.
However, the reliance on credit cards has also made credit card information more accessible to hackers. That’s why following PCI compliance procedures is essential to protecting customer card data.
What is PCI Compliance?
Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance is a set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that accept, process, or store credit card information maintain a secure environment.
The leading credit card brands American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard, and Visa, Inc. created the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council, which regulates the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
For entities that accept credit cards, meeting these standards can be onerous, time-consuming, and expensive.
Sensitive PCI Card Data
What’s Required for PCI Compliance?
PCI DSS has 12 requirements:
- Install and Maintain Network Security Controls
- Apply Secure Configurations to All System Components
- Protect Stored Account Data
- Protect Account Data with Strong Cryptography During Transmission
- Protect All Systems and Networks from Malicious Software
- Develop and Maintain Secure Systems and Software
- Restrict Access to System Components and Account Data by Business Need to Know
- Identify Users and Authenticate Access to System Components
- Restrict Physical Access to Cardholder Data
- Log and Monitor All Access to System Components and Cardholder Data
- Test the Security of Systems and Networks Regularly
- Support Information Security with Organizational Policies and Programs
Card Brands May Have Different PCI Compliance Requirements
While being PCI DSS compliant is considered the “global standard,” each card brand may have its own program for compliance, validation levels, and enforcement.
The companies require different security measures and different reporting methods.
For example, individual card brands validate compliance by either:
- an external Qualified Security Assessor
- a firm-specific Internal Security Assessor that creates a report on compliance
- by Self-Assessment Questionnaires
A PCI attestation of compliance is the standardized document used to communicate those validation results across all brands.
State Requirements for PCI Compliance
Card brand requirements aren’t all a business needs to consider. Each state may have different requirements or even require you to meet PCI DSS by state law.
For example, in 2007, Minnesota signed into law the Plastic Card Security Act (“PCSA”), set out in Minnesota Statutes § 325E.64.
In 2009, Nevada incorporated the standard into law. It specifically required compliance with PCI DSS and provided a shield for compliant entities from liability. See Nev. Rev. Stat. § 603A.215.
In 2010, the state of Washington made it so that entities were not required to be compliant with PCI DSS, but those that comply are shielded from liability. See 2010 Wash. Sess. Laws 1055 § 3.
Thus, while PCI compliance is mostly self-regulated by the card brands, states have gotten on board to make it law.
The Cost of PCI Requirements
Compliance can be cost-prohibitive. There are constant software upgrades, network checks, personal firewalls, employee monitoring, and annual auditing and reporting.
In the event of non-compliance, access to devices could be restricted. Any entity that wishes to provide credit card payment options will need to:
- Invest in compliant equipment
- Develop monitoring methods and training programs
- Form a competent team that can manage the different reporting requirements for each card brand and state (where applicable)
Outsourcing PCI Compliance as an Alternative
The main concern with PCI compliance is how a credit card number is given, used, and stored.
- If your company has customers read card numbers out loud or write them on a form, your company must undergo extra compliance measures for safe handling, storage, and disposal.
- If your company captures and stores card data internally, you must follow extra compliance procedures to maintain a secure digital storage environment.
Outsourcing PCI compliance responsibilities is an alternative that reduces manual effort for companies and reduces costs.
Consider a payment processing system that integrates with your current software in order to take it out of the PCI scope.
Or, choose a software with a secure User Interface and send payment requests by email or SMS.
What PCI Compliance Outsourcing Doesn’t Cover
While outsourcing does reduce compliance scope, it does not eliminate responsibility. Instead, it reduces the costs, amount of time, and work businesses invest in compliance.
- Companies must still maintain a list of service providers and monitor their compliance standards.
- Merchants must still complete an SAQ A (Self-Assessment Questionnaire) even with 100% outsourcing.
How PCI compliance outsourcing looks in practice
Different companies may have different methods for PCI compliance outsourcing. At PDCflow, we:
- Provide a secure payment environment for customers by tokenizing and encrypting sensitive information
- Remove the need for your company to ever hear or type in credit card numbers from customers
- Store payment information in our secure vault, so it never enters your company’s system of record
For integrators, this works by providing a secure overlay on top of your current software platform, allowing your customers to work within your current software platform with no disruption.
Customers provide their credit card information directly to your platform, but the credit card fields are actually hosted on a separate PCI-certified server.
Companies can also take advantage of PCI compliance outsourcing by setting up payment portals or email and SMS requests directly from our User Interface.
The outside host server receives the credit card number directly, tokenizes it, and returns the token.
The credit card tokenization replaces the credit card number with a randomly generated code. The code has no value to hackers because it is not the actual credit card number.
This process allows companies to use standard credit card functions, like processing voids, credits, or recurring payments in real time or on a future date, without having the card number on hand.
Benefits of Outsourcing PCI DSS Compliance Services
Outsource your PCI responsibilities with a compliant vendor to offer customers the payment methods they expect. The benefits of outsourcing PCI DSS compliance services are:
- Reduce PCI compliance cost and effort by removing your internal systems from audit scope. Eliminate expensive upgrades, network checks, and dedicated compliance teams.
- Protect consumer card data from a data breach with tokenization, encryption, and secure storage that you don’t need to manage in-house.
- Build trust with consumers through professional, trustworthy options like self-service portals or custom-branded payment requests.
- Outsourcing PCI compliance—faster time to market. Outsourcing allows businesses to launch payment systems faster without waiting for months of security audits.
PDCflow for Easy PCI compliance
Credit cards are a central payment method for most customers. Don’t let maintaining compliance with PCI standards deter you from offering your customers fast, safe, and easy payment methods.
Leave data security to the experts. Use PDCflow for your credit card payment processing, and we will provide:
- No-hassle payment processing: Reach customers through convenient email or SMS payment requests, or set up secure online payment portals. Add custom branding to maintain your corporate identity.
- Payment tokenization, encryption, and secure storage: We tokenize, encrypt, and store data, so your company can greatly reduce PCI requirements needed to comply.
- PCI compliance attestation: When you outsource PCI compliance to PDCflow, we can provide an attestation of compliance to prove that the out-of-scope parts of your payment process are being handled securely.
Frequently Asked Questions About Outsourcing PCI Compliance
▸Can you outsource PCI compliance?
▸Who is required to do PCI compliance?
▸Do small businesses need to be PCI compliant?
▸What is an Attestation of Compliance?
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- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
Hannah Huerta, Marketing Specialist
Hannah Huerta is a Marketing Specialist at PDCflow. She creates content for the accounts receivable and payment industry.
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