Qualified Security Assessors are trained and certified to assess merchants’ compliance with industry security standards for credit card purchases. The position was created to combat credit card data theft, with QSAs auditing merchants to ensure compliance. QSAs must complete a training course established by the Payment Card Industry’s Security Standards Council to learn compliance rules and techniques.
A qualified security assessor is a person who is trained and certified to assess merchants processing credit card purchases for compliance with industry security standards. The data belonging to the people who own the cards must be protected against theft, which is the main objective of the adviser. In many cases, a Qualified Security Assessor, or QSA, is required to audit merchants to ensure that all industry standards are being met. To qualify as a QSA, individuals must go through a training process to learn Payment Card Industry Standards, or PSIs.
Millions of credit card purchases are made every day, giving hackers the opportunity to steal the data found on credit cards. The prevalence of such theft required the credit card industry to do something about it. As a result, the payment card industry formed a Security Standards Council, also known as the PSI SSC, which developed a set of standards that all merchants processing credit card purchases must adhere to. Agents were needed to certify that these compliance efforts were taking place. For this reason, the position of Qualified Security Assessor was started to handle these tasks.
When merchants process a large number of credit card transactions in a year, they must receive verification that they do indeed comply with the rules established by the PSI SSC. To do that, they must be audited by a qualified security assessor. Once this certification is received, it is passed to the bank or financial institution that issues the merchant services account, allowing credit card purchases to be made.
The audit by a qualified security assessor is actually one of the last steps in the merchant certification process. Merchants must also complete a self-assessment questionnaire, or SAQ, about their compliance methods. A QSA studies the results of this questionnaire and makes personal observations based on their training to make the final determination.
Becoming a qualified security assessor requires learning compliance standards, which were established in 2006 by the payment card industry. To do this, all persons wishing to become evaluators must complete a training course established by PSI’s SSI that outlines all of the compliance rules and techniques used by evaluators. With this training and professional experience, these advisors can help ensure the security of credit card transactions for the public.
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