PCi

PCI Assessments Center

Loading your workspace…

PCiPCI Assessments Center
Kaitiaki, AI PCI ISA

Meet Kaitiaki — your Internal Security Assessor

Grounded in the PCI SSC library for PCI DSS v4.0.1 — ask about scoping, SAQ eligibility, evidence or your own gaps.

Your PCI assessment workspace.

Determine the right SAQ, complete it online against PCI DSS v4.0.1, and prepare your teams for PCIP and QSA — in one guided workspace.

10 official SAQs · PCI SSC-aligned · Free forever
PCI Assessments
Content Card · Platinum
0
Questions
189 domains
0
SAQs
v4.0.1 aligned
0
Controls
across 11 SAQs
0
Courses
lessons
0
Flashcards
terminology
0
Exam Tracks
AWARENESS · DEVELOPERS · +7
Valid Thru
PCI DSS · v4.0.1
Issued By
Haumaru Whānau · QSA
10 official SAQs
All PCI DSS v4.0.1 SAQs supported verbatim.
Verified email signup
Email code verification with disposable-domain blocking.
RLS-protected data
Every assessment isolated by tenant and role.
QSA-authored content
Built by Haumaru Whānau PCI QSA professionals.
Independent practice
Preparation for official PCIP and QSA exams.
Free self-assessment
Determine, attest and complete at no cost.
Threat watch

Why compliance posture matters

Live payment-security signals curated from public industry sources. Refreshed every few hours — nothing here is a PCI Assessments Center incident.

Threattoday

India Mandates Registered Caller Name Display on 4G and Newer Networks From November 1

The Indian government has directed telecom service providers (TSPs) in the country to mandatorily display callers' registered names along with their numbers for incoming calls starting November 1, 2026, in an effort to help people identify…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

GhostAction Compromises About 1,900 GitHub Accounts, Targets Over 30,000 Repositories

The credential-theft campaign known as GhostAction has ramped up, targeting more than 30,000 repositories across 3,000 users and organizations. The spike, according to GitGuardian, was observed on October 8 and 9, 2026. "This resulted from…

The Hacker NewsRead
Guidancetoday

The Quantum Leap: Preparing for Post Quantum Cryptography Featuring Utimaco Inc.

Welcome to the PCI Security Standards Council’s blog series, The Quantum Leap: Preparing for Post Quantum Cryptography. This special, ongoing feature of our PCI Perspectives blog offers a resource for payment security industry stakeholders…

PCI PerspectivesRead
Threattoday

Citizen Lab Traces Zero-Click Candiru Spyware Infections at Al Jazeera to Targeted Online Ads

Candiru, an Israeli maker of spyware sold to governments, infected devices at the news network Al Jazeera through ordinary online ads, in attacks that needed no click or other action from the user, researchers at the Citizen Lab said Thurs…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

Silent Lynx Exploits WinRAR Flaw to Deploy Reverse Shell in CIS Government Attacks

The threat actor known as Silent Lynx has been attributed to a fresh set of attacks targeting government organizations across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The activity, observed from June 2025 through August 2026, involves…

The Hacker NewsRead
Fraudtoday

Help TDS Linked to Hotejka as 20,000+ Cloudflare Pages Domains Host Tech Support Scams

A long-running Traffic Distribution System (TDS) known as Help TDS to a Russian-language affiliate program called Hotejka, which appears to be a rebrand of a traffic monetization operation dubbed ROI777. Help TDS is assessed to be active s…

The Hacker NewsRead
Regulationtoday

NGINX Fixes 5 Flaws, Including Possible RCE and a TLS Bug That May Skip Client-Cert Checks

NGINX released versions 1.30.6 and 1.31.7 on October 14 to fix five vulnerabilities, one of them present in every release since May 2005. There are three memory bugs that F5, the company behind NGINX, says could crash a worker process or p…

The Hacker NewsRead
PCI Alerttoday

Next.js Ships Out-of-Band Patch for Two Critical RCE Flaws in Caching and SVG Processing

Next.js released an out-of-band security update on October 14 that fixes two critical flaws allowing unauthenticated remote code execution, along with a high-severity denial-of-service flaw. One code-execution flaw is in React Server Compo…

The Hacker NewsRead
Regulationtoday

Drupal Patches Critical Field UI Flaw With Unauthenticated RCE Path via Contributed Modules

Drupal core has a critical flaw in its Field UI module that could let an attacker run code on the site's server, and fixes were shipped on October 14 in Drupal 11.4.10, 11.3.19, and 10.6.19. An attacker cannot reach the flaw through core a…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

Fake AI Attacks Spread Across US Companies: How MSSPs Can Stop Incidents Early

Attackers are impersonating popular AI products to distribute malware, steal browser sessions, and compromise business accounts. ANY.RUN linked 1,258 public sandbox analyses to fake AI campaigns between April and October of 2026. The campa…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

Palo Alto Networks Patches PAN-OS Authenticated RCE Flaw Amid Active Exploitation

Palo Alto Networks on Wednesday issued security updates for a high-severity flaw in PAN-OS software that has come under active exploitation. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-0322 (CVSS score: 8.6), is a case of remote code execution…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

Why AI Confidence Is Not Validation

AI is already part of digital forensics and incident response work, with or without a policy in place to govern it. The issue is that these tools are growing more confident in their own output faster than practitioners are developing relia…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

Langflow's Critical Authenticated RCE Flaw Targeted in 1,423 Honeypot Exploit Attempts

Threat actors are exploiting a critical security flaw in Langflow, according to an alert from Previdian. Langflow is an open-source platform that allows developers to build artificial intelligence (AI) applications and agentic workflows. I…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threattoday

AhsayCBS Flaws Exploited to Deploy Web Shells Get New Fixes After Incomplete Patches

Singapore-based Ahsay Backup has released security updates to address two security flaws in AhsayCBS that have been exploited by bad actors to drop web shells and XMRig cryptocurrency miners. The vulnerabilities in question are CVE-2026-10…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threat1 day ago

Researchers Used a Public OpenAI Model to Build a $250,000 Chrome Full-Chain Exploit in Six Days

A team at security firm XBOW chained three then-unknown Google Chrome bugs into a single attack that runs code on a Windows computer when the user only loads a web page, the company said. Its researchers built the attack in six days by dir…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threat1 day ago

Hirudo Android Trojan Uses Patched Banking Apps to Bypass Their Built-In Security Checks

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new Android banking trojan called Hirudo that works by replacing legitimate banking apps with purpose-built patched versions designed to bypass security checks from inside the app itsel…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threat1 day ago

Microsoft Patches Record 1,413 Flaws, Including Exploited Windows Shell Bug

Microsoft on Tuesday shattered its own Patch Tuesday record by shipping patches for a whopping 1,413 vulnerabilities, including one that it said has come under active exploitation. These include 1,102 flaws in Windows, 134 in Office, 61 in…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threat1 day ago

OpenAI Employee Arrested for Allegedly Planting Hidden Recorder in Executive Conference Room

A Saudi national and employee of OpenAI has been arrested for allegedly planting a hidden recording device in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco offices to covertly record sensitive conversations. Abdulrahman Alfoz…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threat1 day ago

An AI Agent Found a Critical OTP Bypass in Production. The Attack Was the Easy Part.

The bug was simple: the login let you choose where your sign-in code went. Proving it on a live website was the hard part. TL;DR During an authorized assessment, an AI pentesting agent found a critical authentication bypass on a major insu…

The Hacker NewsRead
Regulation1 day ago

AI-Found Linux Kernel Flaw Gives Local Users Root, and Can Break a Guest Out to the Host

A flaw in Linux's vhost subsystem lets a local user read and write kernel memory at will and become root across nearly a decade of kernel versions. In one virtualization setup, it lets an untrusted virtual machine write to the host's memor…

The Hacker NewsRead
Threat1 day ago

Four-Byte Write and Timing Bug Let Researchers Run Code in Windows SmartScreen Enclave

Security researchers ran their own code inside a protected part of Windows that is meant to stay sealed off even when the rest of the computer is taken over. The protected area is a VBS enclave, an isolated slice of memory the operating sy…

The Hacker NewsRead
Breach1 day ago

U.K. Sanctions Cryptomus for RU Money Laundering

The United Kingdom has issued economic sanctions against Cryptomus, a chameleonic cryptocurrency platform that experts say serves as a major conduit for payments related to ransomware, narcotics, darknet markets, fraud and cybercrime servi…

Krebs on SecurityRead
PCI Alert1 day ago

PCI SSC Celebrates World Standards Day and 20 Years of Securing Payment Data

Every year on 14 October, World Standards Day recognizes the people and organizations working together to develop standards that make our world safer, more connected, and more resilient. For the PCI Security Standards Council, this year’s…

PCI PerspectivesRead
Fraud1 day ago

U.S. Shuts Down Over 40 Laptop Farms, Charges 14 in North Korean IT Worker Fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday charged 14 people and seized about 187 computers and KVM devices as part of its ongoing efforts to disrupt North Korea's fraudulent remote IT worker (ITW) scheme. The indictment charges a mix…

The Hacker NewsRead
The path

From "which SAQ?" to "we're ready"

Every step is grounded in the PCI SSC v4.0.1 SAQ Instructions and Guidelines. No guesswork, no smaller SAQ than your scope allows.

1
Determine

Find the right assessment for your organisation.

2
Attest

Confirm official SAQ eligibility criteria.

3
Complete

Answer the correct SAQ with QSA guidance.

4
Plan with your AI PCI ISA

Turn every gap into a remediation plan and a scored risk register — free.

5
Validate

Review results online or engage a QSA to sign.

6
Train

Prepare your team for PCI certification exams with QSA-authored practice materials.

PCI DSS v4.0.1

What changed — and what you must plan for

Selected requirements the platform highlights during your assessment. Click through the deck or wait for it to rotate.

In effectReq 8.4

MFA for all access into the CDE

Multi-factor authentication is now required for all access into the Cardholder Data Environment, not just administrative access.

Offerings

Three doors, one path

Start free with a self-assessment or training. Bring in a QSA when the payment brand or acquirer asks for a signature.

Assessment
Self-Assessment

Structured PCI DSS eligibility check covering all 10 official PCI DSS v4.0.1 SAQs. Results are available online in your workspace.

  • Fail-closed eligibility mirrors PCI SSC decision tree
  • Verbatim controls with expected testing
  • Online results — no downloads
  • Per-tenant secure storage
Create a free account
Courses
PCIP & QSA readiness

Course tracks for PCIP and PCI QSA — lessons, quizzes, and readiness checklists, authored by practising QSAs.

  • PCIP fundamentals course
  • PCI QSA readiness course
  • QSA-authored lessons
  • Free for every organisation
  • Independent practice material — not official PCI SSC exams
Explore courses
QSA Services
Formal SAQ, AoC & ROC

When you need a signed SAQ, an Attestation of Compliance, or a Report on Compliance, a Haumaru Whānau QSA takes it from here.

  • Formal SAQ + Attestation of Compliance
  • ROC readiness & QSA-assisted assessments
  • Remediation sprints
  • Annual QSA retainer
Explore QSA services
Who it's for

Built for every side of PCI

FAQ

Frequently asked

Is the platform really free?+

Yes. Self-assessments and every training module on PCI Assessments Center are free. There is no credit card, trial or paywall. Only formal QSA engagements — signed SAQ, Attestation of Compliance, ROC readiness, remediation, and retainers — are paid, and they are quoted individually.

Do I need to create an account?+

Yes. A free account is required so your self-assessments and responses stay tied to your organisation. Each account belongs to a tenant, and row-level security ensures only members of your organisation can read your data.

Which SAQs are supported?+

All 10 official PCI DSS v4.0.1 SAQs: A, A-EP, B, B-IP, C, C-VT, D-Merchant, D for Service Providers, P2PE, and SPoC. The guided selector uses the PCI SSC v4.0.1 SAQ Instructions to determine which SAQ applies to your environment, and requires you to attest the official eligibility criteria before you start.

How does PCI Assessments Center choose the right SAQ for me?+

A fail-closed decision engine walks you through the PCI SSC v4.0.1 SAQ Instructions and Guidelines. Every question and eligibility check cites its source. If any short-form SAQ criterion is not met, the engine routes you to SAQ D or to a QSA — never a smaller SAQ than your scope allows.

What do I get at the end of a self-assessment?+

A structured online result in your workspace: the correct SAQ for your scope, your eligibility attestation, the full selection rationale with citations, and your recorded responses. Results are online-only — there are no downloadable PDFs.

Why can't I download a PDF of my SAQ or AoC?+

A downloadable SAQ or Attestation of Compliance implies formal validation. To keep that distinction clear, PCI Assessments Center only shows self-assessment results online. When you need a signed SAQ or AoC, request a formal engagement from QSA Services and a Haumaru Whānau QSA will issue it.

Can PCI Assessments Center replace a formal QSA engagement?+

No. Self-assessments here are for readiness, scoping, and internal use. If your acquirer, payment brand, or a contract requires a signed SAQ, Attestation of Compliance, or Report on Compliance, request a formal engagement on the QSA Services page.

When do I need a QSA instead of a self-assessment?+

You need a QSA if you are a PCI DSS Level 1 merchant or service provider, if your acquirer or brand mandates a Report on Compliance, if you have been designated for Designated Entities Supplemental Validation, or if you have had a recent card data breach. The guided selector flags these cases and routes you to QSA Services.

How much do formal QSA engagements cost?+

Every engagement is scoped and quoted individually — complexity, environment size, evidence maturity, and geography all affect effort. Submit a request from QSA Services; a QSA will schedule a scoping call and follow up with a written quote.

How secure is my data?+

Every table uses per-tenant row-level security, so only members of your organisation can read or write your data. Authentication runs on managed cloud infrastructure with sessions scoped per tenant.

Who is behind PCI Assessments Center?+

Haumaru Whānau, a certified PCI QSA Company. Self-assessments and training remain free; formal QSA services are delivered by Haumaru Whānau QSAs and quoted separately.

Are the PCIP and QSA exams official PCI SSC exams?+

No. The PCIP-style and QSA-style exams on PCI Assessments Center are independent practice and preparation exams created by Haumaru Whānau QSAs. They are not endorsed by, affiliated with, or a substitute for the official PCI Security Standards Council PCIP or QSA qualification exams.