An overview of PA DSS and what are the protocols involved

The role of PA DSS is to ensure the security of credit card payments. For this reason, adhering to PA DSS holds relevant importance. Let us have a brief idea of what it is all about before we move ahead.

The PCI council of security standards happens to be an organization that was formulated by prominent credit card companies. Their main aim was to improve the credit card security of the customers. It has to be said that the organization was a swift response to a drastic upsurge in data security that put customers at risk. This also went on to prevent the credit card companies for facing major losses on the financial front.

The main aim of PCI DSS is to enhance global payment data security where it goes on to formulate standards along with security, which creates effective awareness and a degree of responsibility among the various stakeholders. Keeping all these things in mind both the standards were put to use that helps an organization achieve compliance and secure the data of the customers. But one of the pointers of consideration is that introduction of both these standards has left the stakeholders in a state of confusion which is the right one to be used for their business.

The reasons why PA DSS is important

There is an expectation that all payment applications that are able to handle credit card information are safe and customers find it secure to use. For this reason, PA DSS tends to be important. Most of the major credit card companies are reliant on the payment security standards council. What it means is that the payment applications are protected from possible software vulnerabilities.

The role of the PA DSS is to comply with security and safety where they go on to enforce standards. It follows the same module as PCI DSS. Each and every organization that handles credit card data has to be compliant with PCI DSS. What it means is that the data of the customers are being handled in a secure manner.

PA DSS which is referred to as payment application data security standard happens to be a global security standard. It leads to the formulation of a payment application software and it resorts to the best practices for best practices related to payment applications.

The difference between PA DSS and PCI DSS

The difference between both the modules is a fair assumption in most cases. It has to be said that PA DSS is a part of PCI DSS. The software vendors that develop and sell the payment applications have to follow PA DSS. What it means is that it ensures that the security of the various components in an application is precise when it processes the payment of customer data.

If you find that the payment applications are not compliant with the standards, it may lead to major fines. Even the potential information of the customers is prone to data breaches. Hence for this reason it is better that you have an idea about the security standards of payment and how you are able to comply with payment application compliance standards.

PCI DSS turns out to be a compliance standard and its main objective is to secure the payment details of the customers who are part of the business. Some of the prominent names in the card industry have gone on to implement it as part of their set- up. All the entities that need to implement it are in the business of storing or processing of data. On the other hand, PA DSS works out to be a set of requirements that is of help to the software vendors who are more into the business of developing secure payment applications that extends support to PCI DSS. It has to be said that it turns out to be a global payment protocol

The correlation between PA DSS and PCI DSS

  • The compliance of PA DSS does not indicate that the entity has to be PCI DSS compliant. The requirements of PA DSS tend to be derived from PCI DSS along with security assessment procedures, which require details to be PCI DSS compliant.
  • Any form of applications that store, process or transmit customer data and there is a scope of PSI DSS assessment. It is going to include applications that have been validated to PA DSS. The assessment of PCI DSS goes on to verify that the PA DSS payment gateway application is properly configured or implemented based on the requirements of PCI DSS.
  • Suppose the payment application has undergone any form of customization, during PCI DSS evaluation an in-depth review may be necessary. It is for the simple reason that the application is not going to be validated based on the earlier form of PA DSS compliance. For obtaining more information related to the same you can tap on to platforms like Appsealing which are going to guide you about the process in detail.
  • A point to consider is that PCI DSS is not going to be applied directly to the payment collection vendors. This is till that point in time when they are going to process, store or transfer the data. But since the applications are being used by the vendors to store and process data, even the customers are required to be compliant with PCI DSS. Hence the payment applications need to be facilitated and not prevent the compliance of PCI DSS in any form.

By now you are clearly aware of the difference between PA DSS and PCI DSS standards. An organization can take a series of steps to ensure that there are PCI compliant. For all those who are not compliant with PCI DSS, it is strongly voiced that they do not overlook the requirements. It goes on to form a superior form of audit assessment, as it is of help for the internal development team. The requirements of card holder protection is taken into consideration.