PCI Assessments Center
Loading your workspace…
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.
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.
Live payment-security signals curated from public industry sources. Refreshed every few hours — nothing here is a PCI Assessments Center incident.
At some point your security will fail. This isn’t pessimism. It’s not because your team and tools aren’t sophisticated enough. It’s the reason we have detections in the first place. And, it’s why once we accept that prevention has its limi…
An iMessage flaw could let a remote attacker join a group chat and receive its messages, Apple said yesterday, and it released updates to fix it. The updates also fix a separate iMessage flaw that could let someone added to a group access…
The Russia-aligned state-sponsored threat actor known as Turla (aka Snake) is wielding a previously undocumented cyber espionage toolset called Cereal that's used to break into victims' Microsoft Exchange servers with an aim to surreptitio…
Four flaws that attackers could exploit without logging in were fixed today as part of SAP's monthly Security Patch Day—the vendor rates all four 10.0, the maximum CVSS score. Three are in the SAP NetWeaver application server, the software…
An October cyberattack on refrigeration controllers at about 700 French retail sites was carried out by a cyber unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the French government said yesterday. The attackers broke into control…
Anthropic on Monday released Claude Fable 5.2 and Claude Mythos 5.2 models, which it said exhibit improvements in coding, reasoning, and vision. During pre-release training, the large language models (LLMs) helped its engineers "complete o…
Google on Monday released updates to patch nine security vulnerabilities, including one that has come under active exploitation in the wild. The high-severity vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2026-125350 (CVSS score: N/A), ha…
N-able said it has taken N-central Hosted Environments offline and is urging on-premises customers to shut down their servers until further notice following the public disclosure of over 30 vulnerabilities collectively tracked as Able2Shel…
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday added four security flaws impacting GPUStack, SignalWire FreeSwitch, OpenBSD OpenSSH, and IBM Aspera Faspex to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, ci…
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added a high-severity vulnerability impacting SonicWall SonicOS to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, following reports that it said may have been exploit…
An attacker broke into AWS accounts belonging to multiple Qubole customers between October 14 and October 26 and stole stored secrets and data, cloud security company Wiz said today. The attacker used credentials for an AWS account that Qu…
Attackers used the Ethersphere project's own release automation to publish malicious versions of two of its tools for the Swarm decentralized storage network: bee-js 13.3.0 and Swarm Desktop 0.56.2. Both releases download and run code buil…
The South Asian cyber espionage group known as Bitter (aka APT-C-08, APT-Q-37, Hazy Tiger, Orange Yali, T-APT-17, and TA397) has been observed targeting South Asian organizations with a previously unreported remote access trojan called Pap…
A system doesn't always need a complicated bug to let someone in. Sometimes, a blank password is enough. That's one of the bigger stories this week. And it gets worse when the tools meant to keep systems updated or running safely become pa…
The login systems behind two car brands' mobile apps could be taken over completely, two security researchers found, allowing them to access any customer's account and, for an owner with a connected car, unlock the doors and start the engi…
Some people who set up a Keplr crypto wallet with their Google or Apple account have had money stolen by an attacker. Keplr uses a company called Web3Auth to run that Google and Apple sign-in. The attacker used a security flaw at that comp…
Everyone running LNbits, a free, open-source Bitcoin Lightning wallet system, should shut down their servers now because of a wave of attacks, the project said yesterday. It has several security fixes to release and asked operators to be c…
A single attacker using AI agents pulled emergency dispatch records covering seven Taipei districts, researchers at Acronis's Threat Research Unit said last week. The agents also found a Taipei fire department platform exposing patient dat…
The OpenAI engineer who was arrested and charged last month for planting a covert audio recording device in the company's office has pleaded not guilty. According to reports from Bloomberg and CNBC, Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan made…
U.S. government agencies have warned that threat actors are actively targeting industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems globally with an aim to cause service disruptions, fire hazards, and loss of inventory. "The actors m…
Passwords and API keys that developers typed into commands they approved in Claude Code are sitting in public GitHub repositories, where anyone can read them. When a user selects "Yes, and don't ask again," Anthropic's AI coding assistant…
An update on Athena, and some unsolicited predictions on what's coming next On Saturday, Dario Amodei published We Must Pace the Frontier. I agree with him. Go read it if you haven't. I've spent the summer looking at what these models find…
Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis has revealed that its ongoing investigation into the agentic cyber attack targeting its systems also exposed names, usernames, password hashes and live tokens for all users. "While we investigated, we r…
A backdoor has been found hiding in the web server that runs Control Web Panel (CWP), a free panel for managing Linux hosting servers, researchers at QiAnXin's XLab said this week. The backdoored web server executes commands that attackers…
Every step is grounded in the PCI SSC v4.0.1 SAQ Instructions and Guidelines. No guesswork, no smaller SAQ than your scope allows.
Find the right assessment for your organisation.
Confirm official SAQ eligibility criteria.
Answer the correct SAQ with QSA guidance.
Turn every gap into a remediation plan and a scored risk register — free.
Review results online or engage a QSA to sign.
Prepare your team for PCI certification exams with QSA-authored practice materials.
Selected requirements the platform highlights during your assessment. Click through the deck or wait for it to rotate.
Multi-factor authentication is now required for all access into the Cardholder Data Environment, not just administrative access.
Start free with a self-assessment or training. Bring in a QSA when the payment brand or acquirer asks for a signature.
Structured PCI DSS eligibility check covering all 10 official PCI DSS v4.0.1 SAQs. Results are available online in your workspace.
Course tracks for PCIP and PCI QSA — lessons, quizzes, and readiness checklists, authored by practising QSAs.
When you need a signed SAQ, an Attestation of Compliance, or a Report on Compliance, a Haumaru Whānau QSA takes it from here.
Curated PCI SSC references we use ourselves when validating assessments.
Official PCI DSS v4.0.1 standard, SAQs, AoCs and supporting guidance.
OpenThe authoritative decision guide behind our fail-closed SAQ selector.
OpenMilestone-based path to reduce the highest risks first.
OpenCouncil-maintained answers to common interpretation questions.
OpenFoundational credential for security teams working with PCI DSS.
OpenRequirements to become and remain a Qualified Security Assessor.
OpenYes. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.