Businesses that process credit card payments must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). Companies can meet PCI DSS requirements with a secure in-house IT environment or a PCI-compliant hosting solution. Organizations may choose to engage a managed services provider to ensure PCI compliance.

This article examines PCI compliance requirements and how to meet them with PCI-compliant hosting. We will discuss the primary features to look for in a fully managed PCI hosting solution to protect your business from non-compliance penalties. We will also identify several providers that offer the best PCI-compliant hosting.

Introduction to PCI Compliance

PCI compliance is the process of adhering to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a complete set of security standards established to safeguard cardholder data. Any business that accepts, processes, stores, or transmits credit card information is required to maintain a secure environment to protect sensitive cardholder data from unauthorized access and data breaches. PCI DSS outlines specific requirements for data encryption, secure authentication, and regular vulnerability scans to identify and address potential security risks. By following these security standards, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of financial loss and reputational damage associated with compromised payment data. Achieving and maintaining PCI compliance is not just a regulatory obligation—it is a critical step in building customer trust and ensuring the ongoing security of your business operations.

Benefits of PCI Compliant Hosting

Opting for PCI compliant hosting brings a host of benefits to businesses, especially those operating online stores or handling credit card payments. The primary advantage is the reliable protection of cardholder data, which helps prevent costly data breaches and the negative publicity that can follow. By hosting your website or application in a PCI compliant environment, you demonstrate a commitment to meeting the highest security standards, which reassures customers that their sensitive information is safe. This trust can translate into increased sales and customer loyalty. Additionally, PCI compliant hosting helps businesses avoid the significant fines and penalties that can result from non compliance with PCI standards. By partnering with a compliant hosting provider, organizations can streamline their compliance efforts, ensuring their hosting environment is always up to date with the latest security protocols and allowing them to focus on growing their business.

Choosing a PCI Compliant Host

Selecting a PCI compliant host is a crucial step for any business that handles credit card data. When evaluating hosting providers, look for those that offer fully managed PCI hosting solutions, which typically include regular vulnerability scans, advanced intrusion detection systems, and reliable data encryption. A strong security stack—featuring firewalls, access controls, and continuous monitoring—should be standard to ensure rapid detection and response to any security incidents. Turnkey compliance solutions can further simplify the process, providing pre-configured environments that meet PCI DSS standards out of the box. It’s also important to review the provider’s compliance documentation, such as their Attestation of Compliance (AOC), to verify that they meet all necessary PCI requirements. By carefully assessing these factors, businesses can confidently choose a hosting provider that will help them protect card data and maintain ongoing PCI compliance.

Types of PCI Compliant Hosting

Businesses have several options when it comes to PCI compliant hosting solutions, each catering to different operational needs and budgets. Dedicated hosting offers the highest level of security and customization, making it ideal for large enterprises with complex requirements. Cloud hosting provides scalability and flexibility, allowing businesses to easily adjust resources as their needs change—perfect for companies experiencing variable traffic or rapid growth. Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting strikes a balance between dedicated and shared hosting, offering a secure, isolated environment at a more accessible price point. For small businesses, shared hosting can be a cost-effective option, provided the hosting provider implements strong security measures and offers tools to help merchants achieve PCI compliance. By understanding the strengths of each hosting type, organizations can select the PCI compliant hosting solution that best fits their unique needs.

What Are PCI-DSS Requirements?

Organizations that store, process, or transmit credit card data achieve and maintain PCI-DSS compliance by meeting the mandatory security requirements defined by the PCI Security Standards Council. PCI-DSS is a global standard supported by all major credit card companies that covers cardholder data, such as primary account numbers (PANs) and cardholder names, as well as sensitive authentication data, such as CVVs and PINs.

Twelve core PCI-DSS requirements are defined across the following six objectives to protect cardholder data.

Build and maintain a secure network

The first objective is to ensure that cardholder data is processed in a secure network environment. Companies must meet two specific requirements to address this objective.

  1. They must install and maintain firewalls to protect sensitive cardholder data.
  2. Teams cannot use vendor defaults, such as passwords and base configurations, that can be easily compromised by threat actors.

Protect cardholder data

Organizations must implement the following two requirements to protect cardholder data.

  1. Teams must protect stored cardholder information by encrypting PANs at rest with strong AES-256 or equivalent encryption. PANs must be masked when they are displayed. Companies should never store PINs or CVVs.
  2. All cardholder data must be encrypted during transmission across open or public networks.

Maintain a vulnerability management program

PCI compliance requires companies to effectively manage system and security vulnerabilities, maintain a secure environment, and minimize risk.

  1. Teams must implement anti-malware software and similar solutions to prevent threat actors from accessing card data. They must perform quarterly PCI scans to assess and address potential vulnerabilities.
  2. Companies must develop and maintain a safe computing environment by implementing a complete patch management process and enforcing safe coding practices.

Implement strong user access controls

Organizations must control access to the systems that store and process cardholder data by implementing the following three core requirements.

  1. Teams must restrict access on a business need-to-know basis, essentially enforcing the principle of least privilege regarding sensitive cardholder data with strong internal controls.
  2. All users with access to regulated data must be identified with unique IDs. Admin and remote access must be protected with multi-factor authentication (MFA) to minimize the risk of a data breach.
  3. Companies must provide physical security and restrict physical access to systems containing payment data.

Regularly monitor and test networks

Companies must monitor and test the networks used to process and transmit cardholder data to meet these two core PCI-DSS requirements.

  1. All network access must be tracked and monitored using a centralized logging solution, with logs retained for at least 1 year.
  2. Teams must regularly test the networks with security tools, including vulnerability scans, penetration testing, and intrusion detection and prevention solutions.

Maintain an information security policy

The final objective for PCI compliance is to develop and maintain a security policy.

  1. Companies must implement defined incident response and risk management policies and procedures. Organizations must provide security awareness training to all employees who handle cardholder data.

What Are PCI-DSS Compliance Levels?

Businesses fall into one of four distinct PCI-DSS compliance levels based on the number and type of credit card payment transactions they process each year. The levels represent the degree of risk and are accompanied by varying compliance validation requirements.

Level 1

Companies at Level 1 represent the highest risk and are subject to the most stringent compliance validation. These are large businesses and global ecommerce platforms that process over six million transactions annually. An organization can also be designated as Level 1 by a credit card provider after a data breach.

Organization at Level 1 must demonstrate PCI compliance by stringent validation requirements that include:

  • Annual on-site audits by a qualified security assessor (QSA);
  • An annual report on compliance (ROC);
  • Submitting an attestation of compliance (AOC);
  • Quarterly vulnerability scans by an approved scanning vendor (ASV).

Level 2

Level 2 comprises companies that process one to six million transactions per year. They are considered medium risk and must meet validation requirements, including:

  • An annual self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ);
  • Submission of an AOC;
  • Quarterly ASV scans.

Level 3

Level 3 businesses process between 20,000 and one million ecommerce transactions, and fewer than one million total transactions. Companies in Level 3 often only support online stores. They are subject to the same validation requirements as Level 2 businesses, including an annual SAQ, an AOC, and quarterly ASV scans.

Level 4

Businesses at Level 4 process fewer than 20,000 annual ecommerce transactions and up to one million total transactions. These companies are typically small businesses and startups, subject to less rigorous PCI-DSS validation requirements. They must perform an annual SAQ and may be required to conduct quarterly ASV scans and submit an AOC based on the credit card carriers involved.

Essential Features of Managed PCI-Compliant Hosting Providers

Many organizations protect cardholder data through PCI-compliant hosting solutions. Decision-makers should insist that a compliant hosting vendor provide these essential features:

  • A PCI-compliant infrastructure including hardened servers and a segmented cardholder data environment (CDE);
  • reliable network segmentation to reduce PCI scope and firewall management;
  • Strong data encryption for cardholder data at rest and in transit;
  • Centralized logging and log retention;
  • complete vulnerability management, patching, and scanning support;
  • Intrusion detection to prevent threat actor access;
  • Secure access controls limiting credential compromise;
  • Managed backup and disaster recovery services;
  • Compliance and audit support with PCI scan results;
  • 24/7/365 security monitoring and incident response procedures;
  • A clear shared responsibility security model.

PCI compliance hosting is essential for any business that stores, processes, or transmits credit card data. Maintaining PCI compliance can significantly reduce a business’s liability in the event of a data breach. The shared responsibility model means that while the hosting provider secures the infrastructure, the business is responsible for securing its own applications and data. Many fully managed PCI compliant hosting providers also offer PCI assistance, including guidance on PCI scans and compliance reviews, especially for customers on VPS or dedicated hosting plans.

Hosting Provider Responsibilities

Hosting providers play a pivotal role in supporting businesses on their journey to PCI compliance. Their responsibilities include delivering a secure hosting environment that aligns with PCI DSS requirements, conducting regular security scans and audits to uncover vulnerabilities, and enforcing strict access controls to safeguard cardholder data. Providers should ensure that all payment processing data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, protecting sensitive information throughout every stage of the transaction. In addition, hosting providers are expected to assist customers with proper configuration, offer guidance on security best practices, and facilitate quarterly PCI scans to maintain compliance. By fulfilling these obligations, hosting providers help reduce the complexity of PCI compliance for their clients, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations while ensuring the ongoing security of their customers’ financial data.

The Best Fully Managed PCI-Compliant Hosting Providers

The following list of hosting providers all offer solutions that meet the PCI Data Security Standard. Providers like Liquid Web, Atlantic.Net, and AWS offer tailored PCI DSS solutions ranging from shared to cloud and enterprise hosting. Businesses must also ensure that any third-party services they use are PCI compliant. In all cases, customers are responsible for understanding their role in securing the environment and ensuring PCI compliance.

Atlantic.Net Logo

Atlantic.Net

Atlantic.Net offers its customers a range of PCI-compliant hosting options to meet their specific business use cases. Clients can choose self-managed or fully managed dedicated or cloud servers. The company provides encrypted backups with offsite replication for enhanced resilience. Features such as a managed firewall and an intrusion detection system keep threat actors from accessing sensitive cardholder data.

The benefits of Atlantic.Net’s managed PCI hosting services include:

  • Turnkey compliance with pre-configured, fully PCI-compliant servers;
  • Advanced monitoring and security stack;
  • A SOC audit-ready environment;
  • 24/7 U.S.-based support;
  • Over 31 years of successfully meeting customer expectations.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS is a major cloud service provider with a wide variety of managed services to address its customers’ PCI compliance needs. AWS offers virtual servers (such as EC2 instances) as a core component of its PCI DSS compliant infrastructure, enabling scalable, secure application hosting and compliance management in the cloud. AWS promotes cost savings through automation to continuously improve customer outcomes. Over 150 services provide customers with an accelerated path towards meeting compliance certifications and attestations.

Features of AWS PCI-compliant hosting include:

  • Data centers in multiple geographically diverse regions to reduce latency;
  • complete security monitoring and automated remediation;
  • 24×7 global support with Tier 1 response;
  • Point-to-point encryption to protect card data.

Rackspace

Rackspace offers PCI compliance through a full suite of managed services to simplify customers’ compliance efforts. The company’s team of PCI experts helps clients protect financial data by ensuring the proper configuration of infrastructure elements and security tools. Rackspace is an active member of the PCI Security Standards Council and is annually audited by a QSA.

Rackspace benefits include:

  • PCI-certified data centers in the U.S., UK, Hong Kong, and Australia;
  • Proactive monitoring and threat management;
  • 24x7x365 support from certified cloud specialists;
  • Expert guidance through the PCI audit process.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy provides customers with a PCI-compliant hosting environment that enables small businesses to meet all PCI requirements. Companies operating as payment processors can leverage PCI-certified products such as GoDaddy Payments and its Online Store to protect customer data. The hosting provider safeguards the infrastructure and data resources with automated backups and disaster recovery procedures.

GoDaddy’s managed services feature set includes:

  • Automatic patching to address emerging vulnerabilities;
  • Three dedicated IP addresses;
  • Configurable customer root access;
  • Expert services to fine-tune server performance.

Wix

Wix provides managed cloud hosting services that meet PCI compliance requirements for a secure environment. They offer a 99.99% uptime guarantee to keep your online business running efficiently. Clients can opt for a custom solution that grows with this business while maintaining PCI-compliant cloud servers.

The features of managed services with Wix include:

  • Fully encrypted data in transit and at rest;
  • A 200+ node global content delivery network (CDN);
  • 24/7 security monitoring and anti-DoS protection;
  • PCI cloud quick start with expert help.

Conclusion

PCI compliance is mandatory for companies worldwide that process credit card payments. Businesses can benefit from engaging managed services that provide a PCI-compliant hosting environment. We have outlined PCI compliance requirements and what to look for in a hosting provider. Decision-makers can use this information and our list of the best hosting providers when choosing a partner that meets PCI-DSS standards.