Schools collect significant amounts of personal and financial information that cybercriminals want to leverage for major payouts. One public school district in Ohio paid $1.7 million to hackers impersonating a vendor, while many other organizations have had to pay hefty ransoms after cybercriminals accessed sensitive customer data.
For private and independent schools, the cumulative money lost to a potential cyberattack, negligence-related fines, and reputational damage could be enough to seriously disrupt the classroom experience or even result in closure.
PCI regulations were created to protect schools, their students, and the families they serve from these devastating cyberattacks through secure payments operations. This blog will divulge what this entails, how your school can enact change, and ways to ensure ongoing compliance.
RELATED: K-12 Cybersecurity Tips: Keeping Payments Secure Across Campus
Table of Contents:
- What Is PCI Compliance, and How Does It Apply to Your School?
- The 12 Tenets of PCI Security
- Establish Network Security Controls
- Strengthen Logins Across the School
- Encrypt Stored Cardholder Information
- Encrypt Transmission of Cardholder Data
- Protect Systems Against Malware
- Maintain Secure Systems and Applications
- Enforce Strict Access Controls
- Ensure Individual, Authenticated Access
- Protect Physical Spaces
- Track and Monitor All Network Access
- Routinely Test Security Systems and Procedures
- Document Security Policies
- Adopting PCI Standards at Your School
- The Most Common PCI-DSS Vulnerabilities
- Diamond Mind®: A Trusted, Secure Payments Processor
- FAQ
What Is PCI Compliance, and How Does It Apply to Your School?
PCI compliance refers to meeting the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which dictates how to best protect payment data through specific encryption, hardware, and operations. Developed by the major credit card companies, PCI standards help organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud, hacking, and various other security vulnerabilities.
It’s a must whenever a merchant (in your case, an independent school) accepts credit or debit cards for payments. Most banks and credit cards require PCI compliance to allow merchants to process their cards on transactions.
The 12 Tenets of PCI Security
Becoming compliant with PCI standards requires 12 steps to upgrade school networks and strengthen physical security operations.
1. Establish Network Security Controls
Protect cardholder data and transaction details with a firewall that blocks unknown or suspicious users as it monitors network traffic. To create a strong firewall and protect payment transactions and cardholder data, school IT teams can implement network segmentation to isolate payment systems from the rest of the network, reducing exposure to potential threats.
Create a comprehensive network diagram to understand the relationship between different network components. This helps in planning effective segmentation and identifying necessary access points for various users.
When designing network architecture, access should be standardized across all network entry points. There should be no unprotected routes into the central network.
2. Strengthen Logins Across the School
Passwords need complex configurations across the board—one compromised account can jeopardize the entire network. Passwords should include numbers, symbols, and 12 or more characters and never remain the default or temporary login a software vendor provides for initial access.
Employee onboarding is the crucial phase to introduce cybersecurity best practices, but periodic classes supplement this knowledge for current and new staff alike. Financial and IT teams need to prioritize these practices to a greater degree, as they directly work with sensitive payments information and processing.
Modern cybercriminals have tools to crack school networks using usernames and passwords alone. With multi-factor authentication, your school has an extra layer of protection with users needing access to their personal phone to login via a unique code sent to their text or email.
3. Encrypt Stored Cardholder Information
All sensitive data should be encrypted during storage using strong, up-to-date encryption methods. This will include converting sensitive financial and student information such as credit card numbers and home addresses into a coded format that is unreadable without a decryption key.
Use industry-standard encryption methods to ensure data remains secure even if intercepted. A secure key management system can generate, rotate, and revoke keys while storing them separately from the data they encrypt. Never hard-code or store keys in plain text.
Apply encryption to all stored financial data, including databases, backups, and log files. This includes full-disk encryption or file-level encryption depending on the system architecture. In the event of unlawful entry, data will remain unreadable without the encryption key.
4. Encrypt Transmission of Cardholder Data
In a similar manner, schools need to encrypt the transfer of sensitive data over open, public networks, such as when a family makes a tuition payment online through the school’s portal. Encrypt data before it leaves the sender and ensure it gets decrypted only when in the hands of the intended recipient.
5. Protect Systems Against Malware
Schools should implement and regularly update antivirus and anti-malware software on all devices that handle or access payment data. This includes point-of-sale (POS) systems, servers, and administrative workstations. Automatic scanning and real-time protection help prevent malware infections that could steal or corrupt sensitive cardholder data.
6. Maintain Secure Systems and Applications
This involves regularly patching operating systems, software, and payment applications to fix known security vulnerabilities. Schools should track software updates and apply patches as soon as they’re released, especially for any application involved in processing or storing financial data. Secure coding practices should also be followed if any custom applications are developed, and third-party apps should only be used if they meet security standards.
7. Enforce Strict Access Controls
Access to confidential data should be strictly controlled and limited to authorized personnel only. Firewalls must be properly configured and maintained to monitor and block unauthorized access. Schools should also conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to proactively identify and address weaknesses.
System administrators also need to allocate role-based permissions according to business need-to-know. For example, there is likely no need for a school receptionist to have access to sensitive payment information, so this sensitive data should be restricted from this user.
8. Ensure Individual, Authenticated Access
Combined with strict account permissions, schools must ensure individual, authenticated access to all systems that handle payment information.
This means assigning unique user IDs and requiring strong passwords or multi-factor authentication for anyone accessing sensitive systems. Each individual should have their own account—no shared or team accounts.
Monitoring individual activity further helps detect and respond to suspicious access patterns, adding another layer of security.
9. Protect Physical Spaces
Physically secure all devices holding cardholder information, including server rooms, POS terminals, and workstations. Access to these areas should be restricted to authorized personnel only, using locks, keycards, or even surveillance systems to prevent unauthorized entry. Periodically train remote and hybrid employees on best practices to secure school laptops within their homes.
10. Track and Monitor All Network Access
Schools should implement logging systems that record who accessed what data and when, especially within environments that handle or store payment information. These logs should be reviewed regularly for compliance to detect suspicious activity, unauthorized access, or patterns that suggest a breach.
11. Routinely Test Security Systems and Procedures
Schools must also perform regular vulnerability scans, penetration testing, and system audits to remain PCI-compliant and identify areas of weakness to address. Schools should test not just their technology but also their response plans, such as how quickly staff can react to a breach or suspicious behavior. Regular testing ensures that defenses remain strong and that staff are prepared for potential incidents.
12. Document Security Policies
These policies should outline how data is protected, who is responsible for maintaining security, and what steps should be taken in the event of a breach. All staff involved in handling cardholder data should be trained on these policies to ensure consistent practices across the institution.
To begin, inventory all devices, users, and apps with access to cardholder data. From there, map out the relationships between each, noting responsibilities and expectations for each user. This informs your school’s official Information Security Policy.
Adopting PCI Standards at Your School
Implementing and maintaining PCI compliance is an ongoing effort, and for many schools, PCI compliance can be confusing. Unlike major retail stores, few independent schools have a culture of PCI awareness.
To get to PCI levels of security, there are helpful resources to help your IT team determine where your school’s information security currently lies and what measures to take to achieve full compliance.
Determine Your Scope
First, download and read the current standards directly from the PCI website. After fully understanding the requirements, understand the current scope of your school by documenting the current organization-wide credit card footprint.
Ask critical questions to get the full picture of what security strategies to target, such as:
- Is the online payment form connected to a larger system owned by a third party?
- What departments are accepting credit cards?
- What POS systems (payment gateways, physical credit card terminals, and third-party vendors) are each department using?
- Do you have web-based transactions? Who created the web forms?
- What is the PCI status of any third-party payments vendor?
If your form providers and web applications (in-house or third-party provided) are not PCI compliant, and credit card data flows through them, then you are not compliant and will need to alter that relationship.
Conduct a Gap Assessment
Once your school has an idea of what successful compliance would look like, it’s time to determine how current operations compare. A gap assessment compares your school’s environment to the PCI standard, visualizing what security measures need strengthening.
PCI recommends gap assessments for all organizations seeking initial certification, but if your school undergoes major security changes, such as merging with another school or adding a new payments vendor, a gap assessment ensures new operations continue to comply with the standards. It’s also a good idea to regularly undergo an assessment just to maintain best practices and stay up to date with any updates.
Remediating shortcomings may require several steps, including:
- Verifying PCI compliance from third-party payments processors.
- Redesigning systems and operations to properly protect cardholder information.
- Developing and enforcing new policies across the school.
Choosing the Right PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)
Designed to help small businesses and nonprofits achieve compliance within a reasonable budget and timeframe, SAQs are self-reported written assessments containing a series of questions relating to how data is stored, processed, and protected.
Learn what type of SAQ your school needs to complete.
Engaging a PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA)
QSAs are independent security organizations that have been qualified and trained by PCI Security Council to perform certification assessments. These professionals can help your school interpret gray areas of the PCI-DSS standard and advise you how best to meet the standard in accordance with your specific environment.
Depending on the size of the school and number of distinct credit card processes, most engagements will last somewhere between two and eight weeks.
Once your school establishes compliance, submit your Attestation of Compliance to all processors.
Quarterly Scan Requirements
To maintain compliance, some organizations are required to conduct Quarterly Network Security Scans. These check systems for vulnerabilities using a non-intrusive scan to remotely review networks and web applications based on the externally facing Internet Protocol (IP) address provided by the school.
As part of maintaining a vigilant security mindset as expressed in the 12 PCI principles, your school should also conduct annual SAQs to ensure operations continue to properly protect family financial data.
The Most Common PCI-DSS Vulnerabilities
Many organizations, especially those new to PCI standards, may currently have one or more weak areas. To help your team begin initial diagnosis, these seven common vulnerabilities need immediate attention.
| Vulnerability | Impact on PCI DSS Compliance | Mitigation Strategy |
| Storage | Improper handling of sensitive data | Do not store prohibited data; use strong encryption for stored data; utilize data retention policies. |
| Access | Over-permissive or uncontrolled access | Implement role-based access control; enforce least privilege; regularly review access rights; disable unused accounts. |
| Passwords | Weak/default credentials enable breaches | Enforce strong password policies; change all default passwords; implement multi-factor authentication. |
| Poor Coding | Insecure applications allow data leaks | Use secure coding practices; perform code reviews and vulnerability scanning. |
| Outdated Software | Known vulnerabilities remain exploitable | Apply patches and updates regularly; subscribe to vendor security notifications; use automated patch management tools; ensure vendors adhere to PCI requirements. |
| Monitoring | Attacks go unnoticed without logging | Enable centralized logging; review logs daily; configure real-time alerts. |
| Segmentation | Whole network at risk without isolation | Implement network segmentation (firewalls, VLANs); isolate the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE); limit traffic between zones; test segmentation annually. |
Diamond Mind®: A Trusted, Secure Payments Processor
Financial and IT teams in private education are not only charged with furthering the school mission and strengthening classroom experiences, but they also have a unique duty to protect the financial data of students, their families, and the school itself. By adopting PCI standards, schools set the highest grade of security and minimize the risks of cybercrime.
While it’s important to proactively help your school meet PCI standards, make sure your payments processing partner does the same. Learn how Diamond Mind handles payments across the entire campus, while maintaining the highest levels of security compliance.
FAQ
Q: Why are PCI standards relevant to schools?
A: As schools handle financial transactions for extracurricular activities, afterschool programs, field trips, spirit stores, etc., and tuition for private schools, maintaining stringent PCI standards minimizes the risk of cybercrime and communicates to families a commitment to data security.
Q: What are the 12 tenets of PCI compliance schools should abide by?
A: The 12 components schools need to adopt as part of their network security strategy include:
- Establish Network Security Controls
- Strengthen Logins Across the School
- Encrypt Stored Cardholder Information
- Encrypt Transmission of Cardholder Data
- Protect Systems Against Malware
- Maintain Secure Systems and Applications
- Enforce Strict Access Controls
- Ensure Individual, Authenticated Access
- Protect Physical Spaces
- Track and Monitor All Network Access
- Routinely Test Security Systems and Procedures
- Document Security Policies
Q: Is Diamond Mind PCI compliant?
A: Yes. As a PCI-compliant vendor, Diamond Mind provides the utmost security for private and independent school payments processing. With encrypted data transmission, strict security protocols, and powerful firewalls to protect against attacks, schools can rest assured they’re taking advantage of strong cybersecurity protections.
Q: Does Diamond Mind help schools with PCI compliance?
A: As a PCI-compliant vendor, Diamond Mind provides secure payments processing for private and independent schools nationwide.
Schools processing only with Diamond Mind have a streamlined, coordinated credit card processing environment. These schools typically find it easier to meet the PCI-DSS standard because of fewer third parties involved and fewer gateways, minimizing risk.