Re: PCI - Third party vendors

[Blake Penn <BPenn () TRUSTWAVE COM>]

Mike,

I’m not sure that we actually disagree – when I say “compliance requirements” these are in the eyes of the PCI 
Industrial Complex, not you or your lawyers, or my personal view, etc. – hence the “enforcement” blurb.  Just letting 
you guys know how the “system” views this issue.


Blake Penn  CISSP, PCIP, MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, QSA, ISMS Principal Auditor
Principal Consultant
t: 678.685.1277

Trustwave | SMART SECURITY ON DEMAND
www.trustwave.com<http://www.trustwave.com/>

DISCLAIMER: The views represented in this message reflect the personal opinions of the author alone and do not 
neccessarily reflect the opinions of Trustwave.


From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Mike 
Chapple
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2014 11:25 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] PCI - Third party vendors

Blake,

Respectfully, I disagree with the conclusion that you've reached.

The important point is that PCI DSS is a contractual obligation, not a law.  The only way that you can become subject 
to a contractual obligation is to voluntarily accept it by signing a contract.  If it were true that "Any entity that 
processes, stores, or transmits CHD must comply with the standard," it would be forcing entities who are not a party to 
the contract (merchant agreement) to comply with the terms of that agreement.

Under this logic, I could take a file of credit card numbers and stick it in Dropbox and that would make Dropbox a 
service provider subject to PCI DSS.  That is not the case, as Dropbox never agreed to handle credit card information 
for me under the PCI DSS standard.

That said, it is clearly the responsibility of the merchant to only use service providers who agree to comply with PCI 
DSS.  The contracts they have with those service providers should include language to that effect, thereby transferring 
some compliance obligations.  Absent that language, it is the responsibility of the merchant to not use that particular 
service to transmit unencrypted CHD.

Just my two cents.  I'm not a lawyer :)

Mike


On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 10:54 AM, Blake Penn <BPenn () trustwave com<mailto:BPenn () trustwave com>> wrote:
Craig,

The fact that they are an external entity does not obviate your PCI DSS compliance.  Any entity that processes, stores, 
or transmits CHD must comply with the standard.  The nuance here is that you don’t have an associated MID (since they 
are a third party) and therefore no associated acquirer relationship/contractual compliance obligations.  This changes 
your *enforcement/validation* requirements (there are none) but not your actual *compliance* requirements.  The way the 
card schemes see it is that CHD is their data and anyone touching it must comply with the DSS (how they would enforce 
this view is an entirely different matter).

That being said, your QSA should be able to come up with controls that may minimize (or perhaps eliminate) the scope of 
your compliance burden.  The easiest way compliance-wise is to avoid the issue, though.  I commonly see clients set up 
a separate physical network routed out to the ole’ Interwebs through a cheap consumer-grade DSL/Cable connection for 
guest wireless and other such use.  That way the networks never touch (“Don't cross the streams.”) and compliance 
really doesn’t become an issue.

Hope that helps.  Do consult with your friendly neighborhood QSA, though, for specific guidance on this issue.


Blake Penn  CISSP, PCIP, MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, QSA, ISMS Principal Auditor
Principal Consultant
t: 678.685.1277<tel:678.685.1277>

Trustwave | SMART SECURITY ON DEMAND
www.trustwave.com<http://www.trustwave.com/>

DISCLAIMER: The views represented in this message reflect the personal opinions of the author alone and do not 
neccessarily reflect the opinions of Trustwave.


From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () 
LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>] On Behalf Of Drake, Craig
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 4:30 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU<mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>
Subject: [SECURITY] PCI - Third party vendors

We have a new coffee shop going into our library.  They are completely run by an external entity not associated with 
the university.  They want to connect their terminals to our university network (possibly wireless) to transmit their 
credit card transactions.  What do we need to be concerned with in terms of PCI compliance with them running this 
through our networks?

Thank you,
-Craig

Craig Drake

University Technology Services
Northeastern Illinois University
5500 North St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625
Phone: (773) 442-4386<tel:%28773%29%20442-4386>
Email: C-Drake () neiu edu<mailto:C-Drake () neiu edu>

www.neiu.edu<http://www.neiu.edu>

[http://homepages.neiu.edu/~markdep/images/neiu_wordmark_color_email.png]

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--

Best regards,
Mike

Mike Chapple, Ph.D.
Senior Director for IT Service Delivery
Concurrent Assistant Professor, Management
University of Notre Dame
236 IT Center  |  Notre Dame, IN 46556
P: 574-631-5863  |  M: 574-274-0151
mchapple () nd edu<mailto:mchapple () nd edu>





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