How can I help keep sensitive cardholder data secure?

To help keep sensitive cardholder data secure, we recommend that you do the following:

Keep your software and applications up to date

Make sure you have the latest updates for any software or applications on your computer or POS system. For example, you need to keep the following up to date:

• Antivirus software
• Operating system
• POS applications

Restrict access to sensitive cardholder data

You can restrict access to sensitive cardholder data and by doing the following:

• Keep back-office equipment away from the front of your store.
• Apply user roles to your employees to limit access to sensitive cardholder data.
• Do not use personal devices for business use.

Keep your network secure

You should also follow our best practices to help you secure your network, which include the following:

Do

• Use only PCI-DSS approved PIN entry devices
• Use a properly configured firewall on your network and computers
• Use strong passwords and change the default passwords on hardware and software

Don’t

• Share passwords with employees
• Use passwords more than once
• Use weak or insecure protocols for connecting to your access point
• Connect to access points you don’t trust or haven’t set up yourself
• Leave your POS devices unattended

Tags: cardholder data, network, pci-dss, security, software