PCI Mobile Madness: Council Clarifications Not Helping
Written by Evan SchumanFebruary 10th, 2011
The intersection of PCI and mobile—an admittedly murky place—is getting more complicated. The PCI Council has pledged that it won't validate any more mobile applications for quite some time, at least not until it can determine what the best criteria are. Questions have now cropped up about the handful of mobile applications that had already been PCI validated.
The Council is in a very difficult position (between a ROC and a hard token place?), especially because it must give as much attention to political issues as it does to technological ones. In this case, the politics are not of the Washington, D.C., sort, but of the industry. Specifically, how to deal with the concerns of the many mobile application developers whose apps now cannot even be considered for PCI validation, especially when they complain of their rivals, who happened to have slipped in but PCI closed the evaluation door. Should the few already approved applications be delisted, so that all mobile applications can be evaluated at the same time, using the exact same criteria? Is that the fair approach?
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4 Comments | Read PCI Mobile Madness: Council Clarifications Not Helping
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-Christine
February 10th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
A ROC and a hard place. Evan, you crack me up!
Emma.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the mobile evolution is causing strain on current standards. It didn’t really exist when the standards were contemplated. Now we’re playing catch up. But the evolution and adoption isn’t going to slow, because PCI isn’t ready for mobile. We might see some Level 1 and 2 merchants delay programs until PCI sorts out their thoughts. Others will run the risk hoping for a competitive advantage. That should make for interesting conversation with their QSA, if they choose to disclose it.
The Level 4 merchants don’t know this debate is happening. Mobile apps are start popping up all over as small entrepreneurs look for a competitive edge. That trend will only increase. PCI could petition the app platform companies to disallow payment applications from being available for download to consumer devices, but that seems like a stretch.
The longer PCI takes to get its position in place, the higher the likelihood that the requirements get ignored or marginalized.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
If I’m not mistaken, I believe the PCI SSC has already addressed approved applications being delisted in its statement from January 25, 2011: “Until it has completed a comprehensive examination of the mobile communications device and mobile payment application landscape, the Council will not approve *or list* (my emphasis) mobile payment applications used by merchants to accept and process payment for goods and services as validated PA-DSS applications unless all PA-DSS requirements can be satisfied as stated and the underlying mobile communications device supports the merchant’s PCI DSS compliance.”
It appears this statement indicates that it is only a matter of time until the approved applications are delisted.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
We saw that, too, but it’s still subject to interpretation.