Resources for Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)

Regulatory compliance 'irrelevant' to security

www.channelregister.co.uk

Companies who get hung up on regulatory compliance are developing a false sense of security which leaves them just as open to malware attacks the chief exec of tools vendor Protegrity has warned.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was developed by the major credit card companies as a means to bolster the security posture of organisations that process card payments.

The 12 point guidelines framed by PCI DSS are a basic list of "thou shalt" (or shalt not) commandments for network security covering the need to run a firewall, maintain up to date anti-virus software, encrypt cardholder data, and the like. A revision of the standard (version 1.1) covering web application security is due to come into force in June.

Protegrity chief exec Gordon Rapkin said compliance with the standard should only be viewed as a useful first step towards becoming secure. However, too many ecommerce outfits view it as a test that needs to be passed - in order to avoid higher merchant fees or fines that come with non-compliance - before lessons learned by going through the process can be forgotten.

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