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Greetings from Cisco’s Compliance Solutions team!
Over the past several years, we have developed an architectural approach to achieving and maintaining regulatory and industry compliance. Our latest work provides – in great detail – both a framework for achieving PCI DSS compliance and recommendations about how to make your Cisco-based network PCI compliant.
To address the topic with authority, we integrated Cisco and technology partner products together into a comprehensive solution based on foundational Cisco architectures, had a QSA auditor – Verizon Business – assess it for PCI DSS 2.0 compliance, and documented the results in a publicly-available Design and Implementation Guide which can be found here: www.cisco.com/go/pci
Our team’s broader vision is to enable Cisco customers to manage risk by achieving and maintaining compliance with a broad range of regulatory and industry mandates. We believe that
Your challenges around compliance are growing and that you are looking for sound guidance as you work to achieve and maintain compliance with multiple mandates;
The value we deliver starts with a thoughtfully-developed architectural framework but also includes a broad array of Cisco and partner technology that has been tested and assessed by third party auditors;
Integrated and proven compliance solutions will give you confidence in Cisco’s ability to act as the foundation for achieving and maintaining compliance.
Looking forward, we plan to engage in conversations with our readers. You will hear from the team regularly on a variety of topics and we’ll ask about your views as they relate to compliance. Your thoughtful responses will help guide our future work.
Even as the latest breach headline fades away, we all know there is another waiting in the wings (read Part I of my blog). How can organizations protect themselves? There is no panacea for securing a payment environment, and implementing advanced technology alone will not make an organization compliant with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). The PCI DSS provides a solid foundation for a security strategy that covers payment and other types of data, but overall security does not begin and end with PCI compliance. Therefore, an organization’s security strategy should employ best practices and an architecture that will not only facilitate PCI compliance, but also help secure the cardholder environment, prevent identity theft, reliably protect brand image and assets, mitigate financial risk, and provide a secure foundation for new business services.
While there is a world of difference between a deck of 52 and a deck of credit cards, it is still wise to hold those payment cards close to the vest. A solid part of protecting those cards from prying eyes is ensuring your insurance firm is compliant with the Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard.
Is PCI compliance important to insurers? Every carrier CTO and CIO I have asked has said , “Yes, it is…and we are working on it now.” I’d venture to say, as with all compliance and risk management it is not a one-and-done effort, as regular reviews are required.
Today, April 14, 2011, Cisco announced its newest work in the area of helping companies across all industries comply with the PCI DSS 2.0 guidelines. And since the PCI DSS guidelines apply to all companies—including insurance—that transmit, process or store credit card transactions and cardholder information, I’ve recorded a video in which I discuss the PCI DSS standard and its applicability to insurance.
Cisco is at the table with its customers when it comes to enabling PCI compliance and is an active member of the Payment Card Industry Securities Standard Council’s Board of Advisors. We completed a new Cisco Design and Implementation Guide that includes 30+ Cisco and technology partner products that have been examined by an auditor.
Technologies involved in the assessment include core routing, switching and wireless, plus collaboration and physical security technologies.
Recently, our country was up in arms over the new airport security requirements imposed by the Transportation and Security Agency. Travelers complained that new full-body scanners and pat-downs at airport security checkpoints were inconvenient and invasive, and major concern ensued that objectors to the new regulations would cause significant delays over the Thanksgiving holiday — the busiest travel time of the year. Grassroots groups were encouraging travelers to either refrain from flying or opt out of full-body scans and choose the more time-consuming pat-downs as a protest. Despite all the hoopla, the Thanksgiving travel rush was not impacted by the new laws. In fact, a recent CBS poll revealed that 4 out of 5 people support the new security measures.
We as individuals like to whine about laws and regulations that keep us safe, and the same can be said for organizations. As Cisco security team members, we have heard our share of customers grumble about regulatory compliance requirements such as HIPAA, SOX, and most recently the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS). These regulations can be, at times, cumbersome to deal with. Yet, when asked in a recent Cisco-commissioned survey about their sentiments on PCI compliance, organizations were largely positive and on board with PCI.
PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, is a set of standards that, more than many regulatory and compliance efforts, has real world relevance. PCI compliance can earn merchants tiered interchange rates and protection from fraud losses, while a lack of compliance can result in monthly fines of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per month. Unlike some compliance efforts with relatively small penalties that are unlikely to be applied, PCI compliance has significant financial implications with a high probability of impact.
PCI DSS 2.0 is being released today. Earlier, we took a look ahead at some issues around PCI in a piece that you can read here.
So, now that we are on the cusp of a new set of standards, what’s new? Read More »
