Cost of PCI DSS Compliance.

"Is there any fixed cost to being PCI compliant?" is a frequently asked question about PCI DSS. No, that is the short answer! Cost varies greatly depending on the number of transactions to be processed as well as the transmission and storage techniques used.

What is PCI DSS?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a collection of guidelines designed to ensure that all businesses that process, store, or transfer credit card data do so in a secure manner. The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) is an independent organisation founded by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB to administer and oversee the PCI DSS.

Although card brands require them, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) is in charge of their development and acceptance. PCI DSS compliance costs might vary greatly from one organisation to the next.

PCI DSS compliance can cost as little as $500 per year for small firms, and as much as $20,000 for major corporations.

The PCI DSS Level

The size of an organisation is determined by the number of transactions it processes each year.

There are four levels of PCI compliance.

Level 1: Organizations that conduct more than 6 million card transactions yearly, or whose card account data has been hacked, as well as services providers who handle more than 300,000 credit card transactions.
Level 2: Companies that process 1 to 6 million transactions per year or service providers who handle less than 300,000 transactions per year.
Level 3: Companies that handle 20,000 to 1 million transactions each year.
Level 4: Merchants who conduct fewer than 20,000 transactions per year are classified

What is PCI SAQ?

The Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) is a self-validation instrument for assessing cardholder data security.
There are nine different levels of SAQ that apply based on your degree of compliance; organisations must choose their applicable SAQ and submit an AOC; each SAQ ranges from 22 to over 329 questions.

Security-Focused Principles

The cost of PCI will be reduced if data security has always been a priority and part of an organization's culture.
With a security-focused culture, stakeholders understand the value of compliance and are prepared to invest in a PCI-DSS-compliant workplace.
It will be difficult to persuade decision makers to invest as significantly if a firm does not have a security-focused culture.
In the long term, this is costly since the organisation will incur the 'cost of non-compliance.'
In conclusion, more security knowledge leads to lower compliance costs.

Cost of non-compliance

The size of a company's non-compliance fee imposed by the PCI DSS Council is determined by two variables.
The first is the size of the company, which is defined by the number of transactions it handles each year.
Fourth-level enterprises are rarely fined, but first-level companies bear the brunt of the financial consequences of non-compliance.
The period of non-compliance with the norm is the second aspect that impacts the amount of a fine. Companies that have been non-compliant for a month, for example, pay less than companies that have been non-compliant for seven months.
Fines are enforced on a corporation on a monthly basis until it satisfies the criteria.
There are also monthly PCI non-compliance fees, which might result in a loss over time.
Non-PCI compliant firms may be prevented from handling transactions and cardholder data, as well as face closure if their business model is harmed.
Organizations must pass quarterly or annual vulnerability scans done by a PCI SSC Approved Scanning Vendor to meet PCI DSS compliance requirements. Our PCI QSA (Qualified Security Assessor) Associate and an authorised scanning vendor for PCI ASV and Vulnerability. Please contact us for PCI DSS consulting.