An Integrated Security Governance Framework for Effective PCI DSS Implementation

This paper analyses relevant IT governance and security frameworks/standards used in IT assurance and security to propose an integrated framework for ensuring effective PCI DSS implementation. Merchants dealing with credit cards have to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) or face penalties for non-compliance. With more transactions based on credit cards, merchants are finding it costly and increasingly difficult to implement and interpret the PCI standard. One of the top reasons cited for merchants to fail PCI audit, and a leading factor in data theft, is the failure to adequately protect stored cardholder data. Although implementation of the PCI DSS is not a guarantee for perfect protection, effective implementation of the PCI standards can be ensured through the divergence of the PCI standard into wider information security governance to provide a comprehensive overview of information security based not only on security but also security audit and control. The contribution of this paper is the development of an integrated comprehensive security governance framework for ‘information security’ (rather than data protection) incorporating Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT), Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and ISO 27002.