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Tag: PCI-DSS (Page 3 of 10)

The Art of Compensating Controls

October 20, 2019 / / 0 Comments

In our many advisories over the years with companies going through PCI, some of the challenges we face include this little thing called compensating controls.

It’s a PCI term in many sense. Same as ‘segmentation penetration testing’. It’s when you can’t address the actual control in PCI-DSS for a reason and you need to put other controls to address the ‘spirit’ of the control. The spirit means: why did PCI-DSS put that control in, in the first place?

Immediately, this becomes an outlet of some of the greatest creativity ever existed in our technology field. If everyone involved can channel such creativity of controls into developing innovative tech, we would be far ahead achieving the technology vision 2020 that our country is lagging behind in. As they say: Necessity becomes the mother of invention. So everyone starts inventing controls.

Unfortunately such invention of controls in thin air will likely face a bounced rejection from the QSA which would further cause stress due to the impending deadline and the admission that the compliance will be delayed. So it’s in everyone’s interest that compensating controls are done correctly from the beginning.

Now this article’s purpose is not to go through the whole list of what compensating controls are. There are already thousands of articles that do that. Suffice to say, a compensating control is when you cannot meet the PCI requirements and you still want to be compliant.

So to make it simple:

a. Write which control you can’t address. It may be logging and monitoring, complex password etc.

b. Why can’t you do it? Some good reasons are that the legacy system that runs on the factory store churning out a thousand printed statements a minute, that cannot be patched due to patches no longer being produced. A bad reason is, Bob is new to the company and has no clue what does patching means.

c. Risk Analysis. This isn’t something natural many companies do for IT, but it has to be done. If the system cannot be patched what are the risks? Infection of malware? Internal exploit? Availability problem? Loss of power?

d. Document the control. This has to be done. You can’t just go and say, “OK, QSA, trust us, it’s in.” It needs to be detailed procedures on how the organisation will carry out these compensating controls.

e. Ensure it’s implemented and validate it with the QSA. In fact, we would suggest to bring in the QSA early in the process. Since they are the ones validating your controls, it makes sense to onboard them with the fact that you are doing compensating controls. What you may find acceptable to your risk may not be acceptable to the QSA. It’s not a matter of, “Hey, let me bear the risk this year!”. It’s a matter of “If this thing goes south, who else is going to be affected?” – QSA, banks, companies – because credit card information isn’t just the domain of the company handling it – it has upstream and downstream repercussions – from the payment brands, banks, acquirers TPA, service providers to the customers.

To be honest, compensating is a major pain in the butt. There is no way to describe it better. It’s actually worse that the actual controls. Plus its not a given each year – QSA may decide due to next year’s evolving risks your controls are no longer acceptable!

An example here: say you can’t patch your pre-historic system for a good reason. The vendor has since announced they no longer support that system and a new release is imminent in a year’s time and the notice is for all customers to bear down and wait for the release. At this moment it’s completely out of the customer’s hands.

The compensating controls could be

a) Having a documented notice from the vendor that security patching cannot be done

b) Hosting the system in an isolated VLAN that does not have any other CDE/non-cde systems

c) MFA needs for ALL access, not just administrative

d) Firewall rules must be specific to port/source/destination

e) Copy/paste, USB etc are disallowed in said system, and any attempts to do that is logged through DLP.

f) Antimalware must be installed and logs monitored specifically

g) Logging and monitoring needs to be reviewed daily specifically for this system and a report daily separately for incidents to this system

Taking a look at the above examples, these are controls that are considered above and beyond what is necessary for PCI requirements. In short, its a lot harder or more expensive to get compensating controls done than for the actual controls, no matter what you may think.

We once had a conversation with a company who were thinking of switching to us from previous consultants. When asked, we realised that many of their systems were not PCI compliant and they had put in compensating controls. Their compensating controls were: “Mitigation plan is in place to replace these systems in a year’s time.”

That’s not a compensating control. That’s something you plan to do in 365 days time. In the meantime, what are you proposing to lower the risk? That’s your compensating controls.

Don’t use the compensating controls as a get out of jail free card. Any consultant/QSA worth their salt would know how difficult it is to get these controls done and more importantly passed for PCI-DSS. In other words, instead of looking at it as a convenient shortcut or workaround, it should be viewed as the last resort.

Drop us a note at pcidss@pkfmalaysia.com for any queries you may have on PCI-DSS and we will respond to that immediately!

PCI-DSS For Software Developers

August 22, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Of late we have been receiving numerous calls from software developers requesting us how on earth do they become PCI-DSS certified.

It’s never easy to explain over the phone, especially with misconceptions that PCI-DSS is a license, or a software, or a solution, or some sort of exam or some other thing. And also, how do we go about explaining to them that technically they don’t (or can’t) be PCI certified as a software vendor, but they can opt for PA-DSS or the new Secure Software Standard from PCI.

So the first thing to ask is (assuming this application/solution is handling credit card information):

a) Are you developing software only and selling that software to your customers?

b) Are you developing a solution where you are hosting and managing and allowing clients?

If it’s a), applicability of PCI-DSS is simply on your customer that is buying your software, not on you as a company. After all, you generally don’t handle credit card – your customer does. However, your software is likely in scope for their PCI-DSS assessment, so there could be an instance where you need to participate in your client’s assessment or to develop your software in a manner where it would be “PCI Compliant”. Developing a PCI compliant software doesn’t make it certified, but it does assist in helping your clients getting certified. An example would be to develop your solution with logging capability and able to log to a central location. Another example is your solution being able to integrate with AD, or to have PCI compliant password policies (session timeouts, password expiry etc). Other examples are to ensure there is Role Based Authentication and Authorisation. Or ensuring encryption is properly done for data at rest and in transit. By doing these doesn’t make it immediately PCI certifiable – but it does provide your client with less headache.

If it’s b), then yes, you are not considered just a software developer but a service provider. You are providing SAAS, so generally that makes you responsible for the day to day security of card data in behalf of your client. In that case, PCI-DSS is able to be applied to you on your solution and your process.

As with PA-DSS, the new Secure Software Program applies to the following software:

Software products involved in or directly supporting or facilitating payment transactions that store, process, or transmit clear-text account data.

Software products developed by the vendor that are commercially available for sale to multiple organizations.

So all the CRM systems, call systems, in house systems, customised systems are all not eligible for PA-DSS or the new program. This is typically in line with what has always been, anyway.

So that leaves us back to square one. What happens if you are not eligible for PA-DSS or Secure Software program and you are just a software developer and NOT a service provider, but your client is insisting on you being PCI-DSS certified?

Well, hopefully you can explain to them or point them out to this article. Another option you can have is to say you have developed your software that is compliant to PCI requirements. The following list shows what it should take to address PCI compliance (not comprehensive):

1.      Requirement 2 – Ensure no clear text for administrative access

2.      Requirement 3 – Application is transmitting /store and strong encryption needed

3.      Requirement 4 – Application must encrypt when transmitting over public network

4.      Requirement 6 – Software development process – secure code review, remove test data before rolling to production,  ensure application is patched, prompt when bugs are discovered.

5.      Requirement 8 – ensure the application can support PCI DSS password requirements, password is encrypted at rest and transmission

6.      Requirement 10 – the application is capable of sending logs to the SIEM, Application penetration testing is conducted and documented what methodology of testing is used.

Requirements affecting Software: Sample Evidences
For all system components in scope (servers, network devices, applications, databases, etc.) and POS devices, provide evidence of strong cryptography being implemented (ssh, TLS 1.2 or later, RDP over TLS etc.)
Provide the following for all filesystems, databases and any backup media
– Details on method (encryption, hashing, truncation, tokenization) being used to protect covered information in storage
– Evidence (screenshots or settings) showing  covered information is protected
Provide evidence of encryption being used for transmission of in-scope data over any open or public communication channel (i.e. Internet, Wireless network, GSM, GPRS, VSAT technology etc.). Encryption must confirm to strong industry standards.
For the selected sample, provide evidence of,
– Current patch levels
– Patches being deployed in a timely manner
Provide secure software development process document in accordance with industry best practices
Provide a recent secure code review report for an application that stores, processes or transmits covered information.
Provide a document that outlines
– the process for generating test data to be used in lower (test/development) environments.
– the process for removing test data and test accounts prior to moving the system to higher (production) environment.
Provide 4 sample change request (2 for software modification and 2 for security patch implementation) from the last 6 months.
Provide the following from a secure code training perspective
– Material used for training
– Attendee list showing that all developers are covered
Provide evidence of logical access account and password features to include,
– Account lockout policy
– Account lockout duration
– Session timeout policy
– Password length
– Password complexity
– Password history
– Password expiry
Provide evidence that passwords (for platform and/or consumer applications) are encrypted during transmission and storage.
Provide the audit log policy settings.
Provide actual event logs for each of the platforms identified in the sample.
Provide a documented methodology being used for penetration testing.
Provide internal penetration test report.

You would get stuck if your clients want to see the PCI-DSS certification, which obviously you won’t have. In this case, the only way forward is to talk to them saying it’s not possible for you to be PCI certified in that sense. If you want, you could actually engage a third party auditor or even a QSA to assess the application based on PCI requirements. You won’t get a certificate for PCI, but at least you have a third party attestation or report, which hopefully should be enough.

Another option is to just get a hold of us at pcidss@pkfmalaysia.com and we can maybe provide a bit more persuasion to your client in accepting your application for PCI-DSS!

PCI-DSS Full Disk Encryption Part 2

May 31, 2019 / / 0 Comments

In our previous article we wrote on how Bitlocker can possibly be used as a full disk encryption solution for PCI-DSS.

One of the key things is for the following statement to be complied to:

If disk encryption is used (rather than file- or column-level database encryption), logical access must be managed separately and independently of native operating system authentication and access control mechanisms (for example, by not using local user account databases or general network login credentials). Decryption keys must not be associated with user accounts.

By enabling TPM itself doesn’t guarantee that the native authentication is separated from the logical access to the encrypted file system.

The below basically enables TPM with PIN to ensure that there is an additional logical access that is required to comply to PCI-DSS.

So overall, this means that Bitlocker needs an extra authentication when the server restarts. As the policy states, either a passphrase or USB will be required for the startup, and from PCI perspective, this addresses the separate authentication requirement.

Of course the major discussion here is what is compliance and what is practical security?

Because when was the last time you actually restarted your server? The fact is that full disk encryption is only as useful as it is to protect data on the disk when the system is not running. When the server is running, access to the disk remains open and therefore, we see unprotected PANs with their pants dropped (so to speak).

We are not saying that bitlocker cannot comply to 3.4.1 of PCI. We are saying probably PCI might be better off relooking at this 3.4.1 and clarify the ‘spirit’ of this requirement. At the end, we are concerned with loss of PAN. We are concerned with the fact that files may be taken away, siphoned away through a variety of means – either through the network, or USB, or photos on your phone etc.

The problem with Full Disk Encryption is that even if we do have separate authentication to boot up into the server, once it’s booted and once authenticated separately, the full disk encryption no longer does the job of ‘rendering PANs unreadable where they are stored’. The argument thus comes about that once that occurs, then whoever is reading those PANs are authorised users already with business requirements to view those PANs.

In our opinion, there needs to be much more security surrounding these servers with PANs that use full disk encryption. Access must be limited again to only those with business justification, and not be used for multiple purposes and especially not for non-PCI usage. Logical access, hardening, logging and monitoring obviously needs to be in place. Protection of the PIN must be in place, and changes of PINs based on PCI-DSS expiry policies.

The comfort level of FDE vs say, file encryption or even folder encryption is much less. Whether it meets 3.4.1, if done properly, it clearly does. But is it truly secure? Therein lies that discrepancy between compliance and security. It ticks the checkbox (for now, unless PCI alters it in 4.0), but from a security standpoint, there is a lot of risk surrounding it.

If you use FDE, don’t expect your QSA to just take it lying down. Most likely further queries will be made and some may deem it even insufficient in itself to address the risks of PAN being compromised and may request additional controls on top of it.

If you have further queries on FDE or any compliance programs like PCI, ISO etc, drop us an email at avantedge@pkfmalaysia.com and we will attend to it immediately!

PCI-DSS Full Disk Encryption Part 1

May 25, 2019 / / 0 Comments

In PCI-DSS, one of the most difficult requirement to get through would be Requirement 3, that deals with stored credit card information and how to protect it. Aside from Requirement 10: Logging and Requirement 6: Software, Requirement 3: Storage makes up a bulk of the remediation effort and cost of PCI-DSS.

The excerpt ominously states at the beginning: Protection methods such as encryption, truncation, masking, and hashing are critical components of cardholder data protection. If an intruder circumvents other security controls and gains access to encrypted data, without the proper cryptographic keys, the data is unreadable and unusable to that person. Other effective methods of protecting stored data should also be considered as potential risk mitigation opportunities. For example, methods for minimizing risk include not storing cardholder data unless absolutely necessary, truncating cardholder data if full PAN is not needed, and not sending unprotected PANs using end-user messaging technologies, such as e-mail and instant messaging.

It goes without saying that if you have credit card information on file for whatever reason, it would be a good time to relook at the necessity of it. If you don’t need it, get rid of it, because the cost of maintenance and remediation may not be worth whatever value you think you are obtaining from storage of card data.

If you do need it, well, PCI provides a few options for you to protect it: Encryption, Truncation, Masking and Hashing. In this series of articles we will be looking into encryption and more specifically Full Disk Encryption.

Encryption itself deserves a long drawn out discussion and the types of encryption – you have applications doing encryption through the application library, you have database encryption like TDE, you have file encryption or folder encryption, you have full disk encryption. One part is the encryption methodology. The other part of it is the encryption key management. The latter is the one that usually throws up a headache.

We will be exploring Full Disk Encryption or FDE, and where it can be implemented to comply to PCI-DSS.

There is a specific part in 3.4.1 stating:

If disk encryption is used (rather than file- or column-level database encryption), logical access must be managed separately and independently of native operating system authentication and access control mechanisms (for example, by not using local user account databases or general network login credentials). Decryption keys must not be associated with user accounts.

So aside from the encryption being strong encryption and key management being done properly, PCI says, there are a few more things to be aware of for full disk encryption:

a) Logical access must be separate and independent of the native OS authentication

b) Decryption key must not be associated with the user account.

What does this mean?

Let’s look at Bitlocker for now, since that’s everyone’s favourite example.

Bitlocker has gone through a lot of stick probably because it’s a native Microsoft offering. Maybe. I don’t know. The fact is Bitlocker is able to use 128 or 256 bit AES so basically, in terms of strong cryptography, it’s possible. It’s the key management that’s the issue.

For key management, the recommended usage with Bitlocker is to use the Trusted Platform Module version 1.2 or later. The TPM is a hardware in your server that somewhat acts like a key vault or key management module, to simplify it. It offers system verification to ensure there is no tampering of the system at startup. Beginning with Windows 10, version 1803, you can check TPM status in Windows Defender Security Center > Device Security > Security processor details. In previous versions of Windows, open the TPM MMC console (tpm.msc) and look under the Status heading.

Bitlocker can also be used without TPM, although that means the system integrity checks are bypassed. It can operate along with Active Directory, although the newer versions of bitlocker doesn’t store the password hash in AD anymore by default. Instead a recovery password can be stored in the AD if required.

With the TPM, it’s still not the end of it, because we need to make sure that there is a separation of authentication for bitlocker to operate. In this case we will look to configure it with a PIN (which essentially is a password that you know).

First of all, let’s see what at the end we should be seeing.

So at the end you are basically seeing both file systems being encrypted. I’ve been asked before if all volumes need to be encrypted, and the answer is no, because bitlocker can’t do that anyway. Your system drive can’t be encrypted. So for PCI, it makes sense NOT to store card data in drives that are not encrypted.

The next thing we need to check is to ensure your set up has fulfilled the strong encryption requirement of PCI-DSS:

So you have a few things to ensure that strong crypto is enabled and key protectors are in place. So what you have is bitlocker now enabled. You also basically need to ensure you properly document the key management policy – include in AES256 or 128 that you are using, which drives are protected, key expiry date.

Keep in mind also the following:

FVEK (Full Volume Encryption Key) as DEK and VMK (Volume Master Key) as KEK.

FVEK stores in Boot sector (Volume meta data) in hard disk and VMK stores in TPM chip PCR register (it’s a Hardware chip which place in Motherboard).

In general, the above would fulfill PCI requirements. In our next article, we will write out on how logical access to the encrypted file system can be separated from the native OS authentication mechanism.

Meantime, please drop us any enquiries at pcidss@pkfmalaysia.com if you need to know more about PCI-DSS or any compliance matters in IT. We are here to help!

The Criticality of Project Management

May 2, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Project management over the years have gone through somewhat of a bad rap for technology projects, especially. They always seem like a luxury afforded by management, and whenever things go south in a tech project, the first stop for blame is always on the project manager. It’s a tough life. On one hand you need to appease the forces that hold the budget (the business) and on the other, you need to deal with a bunch of geeks who are talking binary stuff and whom you know would rather not have you in the room because you don’t talk tech as much as them.

We used to have a Project Management Office, receiving work from other large projects looking for business analysts, project leaders, program managers etc. It’s not cheap upkeeping these guys, what’s with their PRINCE and PMP certifications and their training and hours. The problem was also when the project ended, then basically we had to go look for other projects to take them on. It’s an expensive affair, unless you have a constant pipeline of internal or external projects to keep them busy. The thing was, we noticed project managers tend to stay as project managers. You couldn’t get them to go into tech audits, or develop software or do compliance work. At least, for the ones we hired.

In the past, Project Managers are fairly agnostic in terms of technical capability. They have a set of domains they are good at (whether they are good at telco projects, compliance projects, migration projects), but overall, the discipline more or less remains constant. Methodologies used by these managers include lean, SCRUM, Agile etc, or simply PMI/PMBOK guidelines, which some of our managers tend to gravitate to. But aside from this basic competency of managers, there is inherently a personality that project managers need to have. Leadership is obvious, decision making capability, the ability to stand strong when being questioned and able to communicate the project properly. The ability to pull people together, from technical to consultants to internal business, and yes, the inherent charisma that one must have to become a successful project manager. He or she needn’t be the most technical in the room, but they must be able to sniff bullshit and weed it out. Time, budget and quality are the basic triangles of forces that need to be met, and good project managers are aware of this.

Due to cost and lack of demand, we shuttered our PMO a few years back, but our guys still practice basic PM work in our compliance project, and in some smaller companies, we actually end up taking the informal role of the project leads. We wouldn’t call ourselves project managers, because not everyone who calls themselves project managers are actually project managers. However, for larger companies, we do defer to the project manager in charge, and in our time we have had some experience with some of the best in the business, and some of the absolute worst. The problem is because being a good PM or absolute garbage is so difficult to assess.

It MAKES A HUGE difference who you put as a project manager. It spells either success or complete doom to your project the moment you assign a good or a garbage project manager.

For a compliance like PCI-DSS, there are some specific traits a manager should have, as PCI is a fairly technical project. And most PCI projects tend to drag on past 4 months or so. Some even a year plus. It does require a fair bit of technical knowledge, persistence and goodwill to successfully manage the project. Here are some of what we observed, and having experience good ones, and the bottom of the barrel type of project managers, we can probably give a fair opinion of what are the points of success (between good manager (GM) and hapless manager (HM)):

a) Technical Capability

This is more of a trait than a skill.

The GM know they don’t need to be experts, but they also know they need to put their backs and time into understanding the whole thing and trying to absorb the technical matters of it. They would attend training sessions and they would ask very good questions. The hapless managers go: OK, everyone knows their spot here. Consultants, I will look to you to answer all PCI related questions. I am here to gather information for all parties, so I want everyone to come for every meeting we are going to have moving forward.

The hapless one basically just comes in, fires off a few questions on project matters, and then sidles down and constantly have a far away look in their eyes when we start talking about the project tasks and updates. Or glued to their phones or laptop, furiously typing out stuff with their brows knotted up. Their strategy is that everyone else will carry their own load so they don’t need to know anything technical because they are too busy with other more important things, like buying food for their cats online. Occasionally, they bark out some orders here and there but you can tell, they know jackshit. After 4 – 5 sessions, they are still clueless and that’s when they start losing grasp of reality, and if the consultants are not available, the whole project is stuck, and then they move into the stage of looking to blame people for their ineptitude. Oh yeah. We have had plenty of these experiences for sure.

b) Communication

This seems a given, and a good manager ensures everyone is on the ball and the scoreboard is known to all. They know how to manage downlines (the people that need to get things done), horizonlines (the peers who are managing other downlines) and uplines (the business or sponsors pressuring the project). This innate ability isn’t bestowed on the hapless one. The hapless manager’s basic modus operandi is to take whatever the team gives, and being questioned by uplines and peers, decide that they don’t know how to explain it and comes back to the team again to ask for more information on how to deal with the questions. There is a complete lack of awareness in these managers that they are unable to overcome. They are unable to argue their points succinctly and always give in when there is pressure. Because of their lack of skill and understanding, they have no clue what positions to take and often waste the entire project timeline by going back and forth hopelessly like grass (or lalang) swaying in the wind.

c) Responsibility

One of the true strengths of character is when things are not going right, the good ones take up the responsibility of the situation and face the issues head on. The hapless ones find a way out, and find a way to blame others. To them, it’s always someone else at fault and never them. This stems from their utter lack of confidence in the project, that the only way they can reverse the situation is by saying, “It’s not my fault.” They usually will turn to consultants, as they are external to the company, and seek to pin the blame on them. It’s tough, but it is what it is. Most companies, given the choice of an external party and an internal person, would side with their own regardless of facts.

d) Time Management

The LLB (Look Like Busy) Trait is a big problem with these hapless managers. Because of their lack of a), b) and c) above, they are running around like headless chickens, being pulled from one meeting to another, unable to resolve any issues properly. So their heads are constantly in their phones or laptops instead of properly leading the project. Firefighting, or looking to assign blame. You can also tell when they are not able to manage meeting times. Many times, we have received calls from project managers requesting either immediate meeting at their office, or to come onsite within the next day and they wail because we tell them we are either overseas or assigned to other audits and we can do a phone. Most don’t understand that (unless we are properly paid and engaged), we are not their outsourced compliance unit so they blame us for non commitment. We are their consultants and there is no service level that requires us to stay in the clients office all the time for their beck and call. Unless, again, if they pay us, but most don’t pay for consultants to sit down and wait for inept project managers to scramble around looking for ad-hoc meetings.

Because they are scrambling and blaming instead of working,these PMs now think they are utterly important because they are so busy, but the fact is because of the ineptitude, they are being forced to seek responsibility, communicate or have technical explanation of the project – all which they are unable to do. So it’s one excruciating, meaningless and useless meeting after another. It’s horrible to exist in that manner for a career, but we’ve seen this many times.

Once you solve a), b) and c), Time Management solves itself.

Bonus points: While this may not be always true, the way project managers approach meetings and projects can actually say a lot. If a PMP or PRINCE PM comes in, there is usually a methodology on the table, tools and actual project management software they utilise for reporting. They are able to standardise our reports to a point where it goes straight to the point and to what they know their uplines need to know. Some hapless PM comes in, not certified in anything, not having knowledge of any tools, software or methodology, but basically armed with an excel sheet they took from another project manager who took from another project manager who used it to make sandwiches. That’s how senseless we see some of these methods and tools sometimes an we just look at everyone across the table and everyone goes like: “What is going on?”

In conclusion, never underestimate the importance of Project Managers, especially in a long drawn project like PCI-DSS. While we have known some excellent ones in our time, we have also worked with yahoos out there that single-handedly managed to trainwreck projects. From this article, it may seem our experience is more on the latter, but the opposite is true – we have the privilege to have worked with some really excellent ones that have also helped us get better, over these years. They are absolutely precious resources in a project, trust me. It’s just that when we do face one or two hapless PMs, it stands out a little bit more because we are so used to working with good ones!

Yes, we have shuttered our PMO as an advisory a few years back, but we also recognise the need for great PMs that might be able to help us out in our projects. If there is any interest, drop us a note at avantedge@pkfmalaysia.com and we will get in touch wth you.

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