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Vendor reviews
When companies want to ensure that their vendors are handling data appropriately and that they aren’t susceptible to a data breach, they conduct vendor reviews. Let’s cover what vendor reviews are and how they work — and then learn how your company can seamlessly integrate vendor reviews into regular business operations to support your holistic security posture.
What is a vendor review?
Vendor reviews allow companies to assess a vendor’s capacity to deliver and maintain effective security practices and other performance elements critical to their business. Vendor reviews are essential in evaluating the security practices of potential new vendors — and of periodically assessing existing vendors to ensure that they are maintaining established standards.
Your company’s vendor review processes are a key part of your vendor management policy. Vendor reviews are particularly important when a vendor is performing work that impacts your business most directly: when a vendor is handling sensitive data, interacting with your customers, or handling a core function of your business. Vendor reviews should thus address a range of areas of risk that a vendor’s work could pose to an organization — from the security of a vendor’s physical environment to its data handling processes, and everything in between.
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PCI Compliance Selection Guide
Determine Your PCI Compliance Level
If your organization processes, stores, or transmits cardholder data, you must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a global mandate created by major credit card companies. Compliance is mandatory for any business that accepts credit card payments.
When establishing strategies for implementing and maintaining PCI compliance, your organization needs to understand what constitutes a Merchant or Service Provider, and whether a Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) or Report on Compliance (ROC) is most applicable to your business.
Answer a few short questions and we’ll help identify your compliance level.
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Does your business offer services to customers who are interested in your level of PCI compliance?
Identify your PCI SAQ or ROC level
The PCI Security Standards Council has established the below criteria for Merchant and Service Provider validation. Use these descriptions to help determine the SAQ or ROC that best applies to your organization.
Good news! Vanta supports all of the following compliance levels:
SAQ A
A SAQ A is required for Merchants that do not require the physical presence of a credit card (like an eCommerce, mail, or telephone purchase). This means that the Merchant’s business has fully outsourced all cardholder data processing to PCI DSS compliant third party Service Providers, with no electronic storage, processing, or transmission of any cardholder data on the Merchant’s system or premises.
Get PCI DSS certified
SAQ A-EP
A SAQ A-EP is similar to a SAQ A, but is a requirement for Merchants that don't receive cardholder data, but control how cardholder data is redirected to a PCI DSS validated third-party payment processor.
Learn more about eCommerce PCI
SAQ D
for service providers
A SAQ D includes over 200 requirements and covers the entirety of PCI DSS compliance. If you are a Service Provider, a SAQ D is the only SAQ you’re eligible to complete.
Use our PCI checklist
ROC
Level 1 for service providers
A Report on Compliance (ROC) is an annual assessment that determines your organization’s ability to protect cardholder data. If you’re a Merchant that processes over six million transactions annually or a Service Provider that processes more than 300,000 transactions annually, your organization is responsible for both a ROC and an Attestation of Compliance (AOC).
Automate your ROC and AOC
Download this checklist for easy reference
Questions?
Learn more about how Vanta can help. You can also find information on PCI compliance levels at the PCI Security Standards Council website or by contacting your payment processing partner.
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