New MFA security standards for online payments come into force

Companies accepting credit card payments online have a new set of standards to abide by as of today.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has issued version 4.0 of its PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a standard defining security measures to protect payment card information.

Anyone holding this data, such as online retailers or service providers, must comply with the standard.

The new version of PCI DSS features several changes. It expands its access control requirements to make multi-factor authentication (MFA) mandatory for all access into the cardholder data environment, and also updates password requirements.

Companies following the standard will also have to implement new protections against phishing attacks.

The latest document also introduces more flexibility for organizations to demonstrate their compliance. Whereas the previous version focused on firewall protection, version 4.0 has broadened its terminology to address other network security controls.

The Council has also added support for targeted risk analyses. These let companies define how frequently they perform some security-related activities, it said.

The PCI will translate the new version of PCI DSS into different languages over the next few months. Assessors - the companies that verify compliance with the standard - also have to train in the new version.

The current version, 3.2.1, will remain active until 31 March 2024, the Council said. After that, version 4.0 will be the only active version of the standard. Some requirements in the new version are defined as best practices, but will become mandatory. Organizations will have an extra year - until March 31 2025 - to phase those in.