We have been notified that the (ISC)2 Security Congress in October will now be virtual.
We would still like to virtually meet with all of you anyway. See this post for where to register and how to submit questions for our session that will still go on virtually.
The PCI Council has announced the schedule for this Fall’s Global Community Meeting and it will be a killer.
Tuesday, October 26, will be held on Central European Standard Time (UTC+2) and starts at 9AM. For all of us in the Continental United States, that means it will start anywhere between Midnight Tuesday to 3AM. For those in Asia, that will fall from lunchtime to early evening. The “day” will end in the US at 11AM Eastern, 8AM Pacific.
Wednesday, October 27, is on Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) and again starts at 9AM. For those in Europe, that will be around Noon to 2PM. But for those of us in the Continental United States, we will still be on Tuesday and will start at 8PM Eastern, 5PM Pacific. The “day” will end in the US at 3AM Eastern, Midnight Pacific. A very long day for a lot of us in the US.
The final day, Thursday, will be held on Eastern Daylight Time (UTC+4) and will start at 9AM. So we get almost a day and a half before the final sessions. For people in Europe, this “day” will start at 3PM and end around 10PM. For those in Asia, the “day” will start mid to late evening on Thursday and not finish until early Friday morning.
This will be a very interesting Community Meeting. I look forward to “seeing” you all there.
Enjoy the sleep deprivation. đ
The PCI Dream Team will be appearing LIVE at the (ISC)2 Security Congress in Orlando this Fall, Monday, October 18 through Wednesday, October 20, 2021. Our session is scheduled for Tuesday, October 19, at 11:45 AM ET/ 1545 UTC.
While we will be live at the conference, you can also attend the conference and our session virtually. So other than training budget limitations, there is no other good reason you cannot join us.
As usual, we will be taking questions live and via email at pcidreamteam AT gmail DOT com. We also monitor Twitter if you use #pcidreamteam.
We are expecting our usual lively discussion of all topics PCI and other security standards if time allows.
We really are looking forward to physically seeing people at the conference.
According to an email I received today, the draft validation documents (I am assuming that means the ROC Reporting Template and AOC) will be released on Monday, June 28, on the PCI Portal for QSAs, ISAs and POs to review and comment.
The comment period will be open for 30 days from that date.
Make sure you get your copy, review the documents and generate comments as this is your chance to have input on the PCI DSS.
After years on BrightTalk, the PCI Dream Team is relocating to a new venue due to changes in BrightTalk’s revenue model (i.e., you need to pay to be on BrightTalk).
Thanks to Dream Team member Arthur “Coop” Cooper and his employer, TrustedSec, we will now be broadcasting through TrustedSec’s GoToMeeting instance.
Which brings us to the fact that the PCI Dream Team will be live online on Wednesday, June 23, at 1PM ET/ 1700 UTC. If you would like to attend this live event, you can register here. As usual, this will be an interactive event with attendees providing the questions to the Dream Team to answer.
We expect to have a lively discussion after the PCI SSC’s QSA event on June 15 for an hour and a half. Still no clue as to what is going to be discussed at this QSA session, but if it is going to take an hour and a half it must be good.
As usual, we will also be accepting questions at pcidreamteam AT gmail DOT com. So if you cannot attend the live event or have questions that are just bugging you, you can submit them to that email account so that we have them for this session.
And as a reminder, no questions are off limits EXCEPT those regarding PCI DSS v4 (thank you NDA).
We look forward to seeing you at our new online home.
A couple of interesting items in this month’s Assessor Newsletter that came out on April 30.
All Assessor Webcast
The first thing is the June 15 All Assessor Webcast that will be held at 1430 UTC and will be an hour and a half long. I reached out to some contacts I have and they are all mum as to what could possibly take an hour and half to discuss. Given that the final RFC of PCI DSS v4 might be out by then, it could be there will be a discussion of that document. Regardless, I would recommend everyone sign up to attend this session.
QSA v4 Training
Another little interesting tidbit was in the QSA Program Changes. I do not recall hearing about this in the past, so that is why I found it interesting.
“QSAs can only perform assessments using versions of the standard for which they have received PCI SSC training:
– This requirement only applies to major releases of the standard, it does not apply to minor revisions.
– Once a QSA completes the PCI DSS v4 Transitional Training, an indicator will be added to the QSA Assessor listing on the Website.”
From what I can gather, what this means is that until a QSA has attended the PCI DSS v4 Transitional Training, a QSA will not be able to conduct a PCI assessment using the v4 template. As a result, I am guessing that attendance at these training sessions will be at a premium as QSAs will want to attend them as soon as possible. Hopefully these will be online sessions so that getting into them early are not as big an issue as would be for in-person training.
QSAC QA Questionnaire
For those QSACs that have been looking for the annual QA Questionnaire, it was released on March 24 and is posted on the PCI Portal under the Resources Center. So make sure you download it and go through it as soon as you can.
FAQ of the Month
The final tidbit is regarding this month’s FAQ #1325 entitled ‘Does PCI SSC provide a âPCI DSS Compliantâ logo?’.
“PCI SSC does not issue an official PCI seal, mark or logo that companies can use when they achieve PCI DSS compliance. Please note that the PCI logo is a registered trademark and may not be used without authorization. You may not use the marks PCI Compliant, PCI Certified, PCI DSS Compliant, PCI DSS Certified or PCI with check marks or any other mark or logo that suggests or implies compliance or conformance with our standards. If your company is a member of one of PCI SSC’s programs, i.e. PO, QSA, ASV, ISA, or QIR, please contact your Program Manager who can provide a program logo that can be used for members of that program only. Note that authorized use of an applicable PCI logo by a program member is not an indication of that organizationâs PCI compliance status or an endorsement by PCI SSC.
April
Article Number 1325″
This ranks up there with FAQ #1220 on the subject of PCI compliance certificates and the fact that they are worthless. Why these continue to be allowed to go on, I do not understand. I suppose until the Council begins putting QSACs in remediation for these incidents, they will continue.
Just thought these topics were worth sharing in case you missed the latest newsletter.
So much for getting together this year for a PCI Community Meeting anywhere in the world. The Council sent out an email on Wednesday, April 21, that explains what will replace those events.
“PCI SSC is excited to announce the most important global online event for the payment card industry. New this year, the PCI SSC Global Community Forum will bring together industry experts from all over the world to share the latest in information security, update you on changes to PCI standards and programs as well as provide opportunities to network with peers. The PCI SSC Global Community Forum will take place online from Tuesday, 26 October â Thursday, 28 October.
This global online event held over the course of three days will include all the things you expect from PCI SSC events – important Council updates, regional insights, opportunities for feedback, networking, and fun engagement activities. Given the uncertainty of travel and international border restrictions, the Council has made the decision to offer this online event with dedicated days for each region presented in local time zones and cancel its 2021 in-person Community Meetings in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Global Community Forum speaking submissions are still being accepted through Friday, 23 April at 11:59 PM EDT.”
Hopefully we will all get together in person sometime in the future.
In a brief yet bold announcement, the PCI Security Standards Council today announced that the card brands have come to an impasse and cannot agree on key provisions of PCI DSS v4.
Council Communications Director, April Fools-Day, states in the Councilâs Blog post that, âThe card brands have tried and tried to work through their differences on key parts of the new version of the PCI DSS, but their differences have been unable to be resolved. As a result, the Council has been informed that we will need to go back to pre-Council times when each card brand had their own security compliance program.â
An anonymous source from American Express stated that, âWe fully expect to have our security program issued in a matter of days. We were happy with where version 4 was headed, and we intend to publish that program with only minor revisions.â
A source from Visa USA who insisted on anonymity because they are not allowed to officially speak about the matter stated, âVersion 4 as it existed was not an advancement. Too many loopholes in the work program. It wasnât about to advance security of card data and was taking us back to the dark ages of information security.â
A Mastercard spokesperson stated, âWhat Visa said.â
Spokespeople for Discover and JCB had no comment on the news.
Dr. Brandon Williams, a known critic of the Council stated, âIt was just a matter of time before this all imploded. I have seen this coming for years.â
Dr. Anton Chuvakin, noted SIEM expert and author of many PCI DSS books, said, âMeh!â
The PCI Dream Team were stunned by the news. However, after a moment to catch his breath, Art âCoopâ Cooper said, âI suppose it was bound to happen at some point. I just thought it would be decades out.â
It will be interesting to see the reaction to this news as people let it all sink in. In the meantime, enjoy April the First.
Back by popular demand, the PCI Dream Team will again be taking our show to Secure360 this May 11 (Tuesday) at 4PM CT/2100 UTC.
Secure360 is the Upper Midwestâs premier security conference and will be meeting again virtually on Tuesday, May 11 and Wednesday, May 12. It is well worth the cost to attend as there are always many informative sessions and keynotes. If interested, you can register here.
While not in person last year, we had a great time answering a variety of PCI and not so PCI security questions. We look forward to having another great session this year.
If you want to make sure your question gets answered, please submit them before the session at pcidreamteam AT gmail DOT com.
We look forward to seeing you at Secure360.
In the February 2021 Assessor newsletter, the Council announced the following.
âBecause of the broad impact PCI DSS has on the payment community, the Council is seeking additional feedback into the PCI DSS v4.0 validation documents. As a result of expanding stakeholder feedback opportunities to include these supporting documents, the Council is now targeting a Q4 2021 completion date for PCI DSS v4.0. The publication and availability of PCI DSS v4.0 is still being determined. The Council will communicate the targeted publication date in the coming months.â
So we will apparently see one more iteration of v4 before it is released. According to their blog post, the comment period will start around June 2021.
See their blog post for more information.
One other important item from the newsletter for all QSAs, do not forget to register for the next All Assessor Webcast on March 18, 2021.
PCI Guru 