Payment card security: 4 payment security best practices

Securing sensitive personal information and customer financial details from payment card data is a high priority for businesses working to maintain their payment card industry (PCI) compliance and protect their reputation and customer trust. As outlined in Verizon’s 2024 Payment Security Report, there are seven common security constraints that are key to overcome when trying to implement positive change in your payment card industry security program:¹

• Capacity: Limitations on the resources available to be allocated to security and compliance
• Cost: The time and money allocated and required to achieve your objectives and goals
• Competence: The level of experience and skill at an individual level available to support security and compliance
• Capability: The level of proficiency at the team and organizational level available to collectively achieve results
• Culture: The sum of an organization's attitudes, actions and behaviors toward security and compliance
• Communication: The frequency and quality with which stakeholders exchange information
• Commitment: The pledge from stakeholders to undertake the actions needed to achieve the security goals

Recommended strategies for payment card security and compliance

While implementing a robust PCI security strategy can feel overwhelming, understanding which of the above constraints impacts your organization most is the first step in uncovering new opportunities to help to achieve PCI compliance and encourage greater organizational focus on PCI compliance. Here are four recommended strategies that you can use to help improve your PCI data security and compliance.

1. Define a clear PCI security goal

Don't just settle for passing a PCI compliance validation assessment. Your program goal should be to move toward comprehensive, long-term data protection. By specifying your goal, you are creating a standard you can use to evaluate every single decision, along with whether or not your PCI security program is a success or requires fine-tuning. In addition, a clear PCI security goal makes it easier to communicate why the program exists which may help to increase support from other stakeholders that you'll need to make the goal a reality.

2. Choose a PCI security management approach

The right management model can help to develop the strategy and framework you need for long-term payment card industry security compliance. Here are two models that an organization’s PCI security program may be able to adopt, depending on their needs and resources.

Security Management Canvas

Based on approxi>mately 20 years of experience with PCI security program compliance, Verizon’s Security Management Canvas offers a template that may be able to help organizations provide the foundational blocks you need across your security and compliance management process. Using Verizon’s Security Management Canvas, you may be able to better align your business goals with your security strategies, prioritize objectives and allocate resources more efficiently. In addition, the model may help you with the functional components of your PCI security program to help optimize your security operations while working to comply with the PCI Data Security Standard and other relevant standards. Finally, the model may help you improve your PCI security program by providing a framework through which to examine how your PCI security program is designed, managed and executed.

Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)

By focusing on governance, risk and compliance, you may be able to integrate your payment card industry security compliance initiatives with your broader governance programs to support compliance efficiency. This approach may help you define your PCI compliance KPIs and goals and how you'll achieve them while providing tactical actions for managing and mitigating risk. Integrating GRC can also provide a performance management component that ensures ongoing performance reviews and communication across governance, risk management and compliance. It could allow you to identify and address emerging issues, helping your security program to adapt to your changing business needs and evolving cyber threat landscape.

3. Avoid common program management design mistakes

Don't let simple mistakes knock your PCI compliance program off track. Effective PCI security program management requires a strategic approach, which means you need to secure stakeholder buy-in early and treat security as a long-term strategic priority. Everyone involved needs to understand this is a marathon, not a sprint, and acknowledge the complexity of managing a PCI security program. By prioritizing processes and procedures over quick fixes, you may be able to build a robust and sustainable PCI compliance program.

4. Build a strong control environment

Your control environment is a combination of everything that impacts your PCI compliance and cardholder data security. To help build a strong control environment, document all policies, participants, standards, procedures, tools, processes and documents. Likewise, it may make sense to integrate cardholder data security with your broader systems by connecting your internal and external compliance and security systems together. Monitoring and measuring your performance regularly over the long term could help you make the adjustments required to maintain PCI compliance.

Take your payment security to the next level

Learn more about payment security insights and download the 2024 Payment Security Report to learn how to build an advanced PCI security program.

The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.