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Michael S. Mimoso, Editorial DirectorThough I can't say that doing more rather than less security is a bad thing; if a company does undergo an assessment, the QSA needs to prepare a report on compliance (ROC), which is essentially an independent validation that the merchant is in compliance with PCI DSS. It is based upon the PCI Security Standards Council's standard template, which is available on its website. The merchant submits the ROC to the various payment processors. The QSA does not submit it to either the PCI Security Standards Council or the payment card brands: That's the responsibility of the merchant. In fact, not only should the ROC should be submitted, but also proof that quarterly scans are being conducted.
If the company chooses to self-assess, then it should fill out the "Self-Assessment Questionnaire" and submit that along with quarterly scan results to the merchant's payment processor. To make sure the merchant is in full compliance, it wouldn't hurt to build the entire ROC, though it's likely overkill for a Level 3 merchant.
More information:
- Learn how to subvert the security standards dilemma between network segmentation and PCI compliance.
- When filling out the PCI DSS questionnaire, is it important to provide documentation? Read more.
This was first published in October 2008