The Importance of Hiring an Experienced, Qualified Security Assessor for Your PCI-Compliance Audit

With the stiff penalties associated with failure to meet standards set by the PCI Security Council, ensuring that your company remains compliant and avoids security breaches requires regular PCI compliance audits. Hiring qualified security assessors can help you avoid a number of potential pitfalls associated with audits. Opting to hire the most experienced candidates offers a number of benefits, including:

• Getting it Done Right
  In 2004, CardSystems Solutions was hacked, resulting in 263,000 stolen credit cards and roughly 40 million compromised. This breach occurred despite their security auditor giving them a clean audit just three months prior. Hiring experienced PCI compliance auditors to perform your audits lessens the likelihood of potentially costly mistakes.
• Continued Security
  Experienced PCI compliance auditors not only understand current standards, but they understand the areas in which the current standards fall short. This allows you to proactively anticipate security risks and protect your customers’ data. Understanding the current problems, as well as the next generation of threats, allows you to remain in compliance and prevent costly security breaches.
• Documentation
  One of the most important aspects of PCI-compliance audits, and one of the most underutilized, is documentation of the process and results. Experienced security auditors have the knowledge to properly document their audit, allowing you to clearly understand their findings. Improper documentation can leave you confused and unable to understand the nature of your security problems.

Hiring experienced PCI-compliance auditors is the best way to ensure your adherence to standards and avoid the costly consequences of a security breach. Inexperienced auditors can often cause more problems than they solve. For more information about PCI compliance, call PathMaker Group at (817) 704-3644. We consult on security issues ranging from PCI compliance to penetration testing for businesses of all sizes.