Payment security is evolving, and PCI DSS updates from recent years have increased requirements for every merchant that stores, processes and transmits card data. If your business accepts payments online, in-store or over the phone, you must understand PCI DSS compliance requirements to ensure compliance in 2026. Getting it wrong means failed assessments, higher fees, and increased breach exposure. Yet in 2026, PCI compliance requirements focus on practicality—reducing card data exposure, clearly documenting controls and relying on providers whose attestations match your operational environment[1]. Get it right and reduce your scope, assessment duration and ease of approvals.
Why PCI DSS Compliance Matters
PCI DSS compliance minimizes risk for customers and businesses alike. When adequate controls are in place, the likelihood of a breach decreases. Banks and issuers take note since compliance establishes trust. Merchants avoid unnecessary expenses like incident responses and regulatory fines. For e-commerce checkout, when issuers trust that merchants have compliant processes, PCI-approved transactions equal approvals. For growing brands, certifications and compliant self-assessment questionnaires (SAQs) help expedite sales processes with partners and marketplaces.
The Challenge of PCI DSS Updates
However, PCI DSS updates present challenges. Requirements change. New authentication expectations, targeted risk analyses based on flows and new encryption rules mean teams constantly chase a moving target with limited time. Stacks are complex—often integrating third-party scripts, tag managers and multiple payment options—which increases surface area risk[2]. Remote access teams further complicate access control considerations. Unclear scope, duplicate work and last-minute remediation often prevail instead of clear compliance plans.
The Impact of Stacks and Providers on PCI DSS Compliance
Understanding how to be PCI DSS compliant involves relying on your gateways, payment service providers (PSPs) and acquirers. Those that support secure hosted fields, tokenization and point-to-point encryption enable merchants to avoid ever truly processing card data on their systems[3]. Their Attestation of Compliance should mirror the features you’re using to meet standards as well. Supported by the right Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and a straightforward evidence plan, assessments can be predictable as well. Using the right stack, yearly compliance becomes a routine check instead of a scramble.
Why Customer Experience Matters Too
Do not make security an inconvenience that negatively impacts conversion rates. Security should be safe by design. Use modern hosted fields and wallets so checkout remains seamless, no matter the device used. Leverage FAQs/help centers for transparency regarding security standards, while clear receipts, refund windows and descriptors help keep disputes low, which benefits acquirers’ risk profiles over time.
Six Critical Steps to PCI DSS Compliance in 2026
Minimize Card Data Exposure
Use hosted payment pages, iFrames or JavaScript hosted fields so raw card data never touches your server. Never store PANs but instead use tokens instead. For in-person payments using validated Point-to-Point encryption systems is ideal as well. The less exposure you have to card data, the easier it is to determine compliance scope and pass audits.
Strengthen Authentication and Access Controls
Implement multifactor authentication for admins or anyone with access to cardholder data environments (CDEs). Enforce least privilege, session timeouts to reduce inactivity time and speed revocation upon role changes. Conduct quarterly reviews and document approvals to strengthen your position.
Encrypt, Segment and Log
Ensure all data is encrypted during transmission and storage with modern encryption standards. Segment networks to separate cardholder systems from everyday operations. Bring all logs into one location where timestamps can be maintained, storage is immutable and alerts can be sent when suspicious events occur. Maintain log storage for as long as your QSA recommends and ensure restoration can be tested.
Document Targeted Risk Analyses
When you have custom flows—whether it's pay by link or embedded checkout for example—document the risks with targeted risk analyses. Include compensating controls and tests performed successfully to establish credibility. These should be reviewed yearly or if flows change.
Patch, Test and Monitor
Ensure systems are current via vendor patching with periodic internal vulnerability scans as well external scanning quarterly at a minimum with annual penetration testing required for assessment with remediation needed thereof. Maintain file integrity within essential systems and hold up red flags upon anomaly detections.
Train People and Prove It
Training is how security becomes habitual among employees. Conduct training sessions focused on phishing attempts, honest card data collection and incident reports while maintaining records of attendance, policy sentences and acknowledgements that prove individuals were educated. All evidence need submission during assessment shows controls in action.
The Future of PCI DSS Compliance in 2026
Expect stricter connections between fraud controls and authentication requirements, expanded expectations for tokenization related to card-on-file options and increased scrutiny over third-party scripts that appear during checkout selections. AI-assisted monitoring will help expedite detection, but QSA reviews will still require human intervention separated by documented review—teams reliant on secure functionality from providers, reduced scope and evidence collection on autopilot will find themselves securing 2026 assessments faster than they’d presume, with minimal surprises before Final Report submission[4].
FAQs
Q: What’s the fastest way to reduce PCI scope?
A: Move card capture over to hosted payment pages or hosted fields so raw PAN data never reaches your servers in the first place. Combine that with tokenization for stored credentials and Point-to-Point encryption for in-person devices, so once you get PANs out of your systems, typically your self-assessment questionnaire type improves, the number of controls decreases, and assessments become easier to pass.
Q: How do PCI updates affect e-commerce sites with many third-party scripts?
A: Third-party scripts could expose card data if they load while the checkout is happening; therefore, hold an audit of content security policies, subresource integrations, and script allowlists for the possibility. Look at a provider that either isolates card fields in separate instances from a hosted perspective or avoids third-party scripts altogether. Don’t forget to track changes to scripts by logging who accesses them during checkout processes via inventory, which your QSA will want evidence of because they’ll need confirmation that you control what loads during checkout.
Q: What’s considered acceptable evidence during assessment?
A: Assessors will appreciate current policies; screenshots; configuration exports; access reviews; scan/pen test results; samples from logs/alerts showing controls operating as intended, including dates, approvers’ identifiers; system notes and reports. Compiling along the way is often easier than sifting through after the fact—use a simple repository by control with a calendar detailing when each artifact needs review/update.
Q: Is 3-D Secure required to be PCI compliant?
A: PCI doesn’t mandate how you secure your cardholder data; therefore, unless 3-D Secure plays a role in protecting merchant platforms, it’s not strictly required—but for fraud liability assessments online, it’s recommended as a best practice by many merchants through targeted step-up where riskier segments earn 3-D Secure protection while lower risk traffic remains frictionless.
Q: How often do we need vulnerability scans and penetration tests?
A: Vulnerability scans from external/internally should be quarterly as well, post significant changes—penetration testing should be annual/generalized as well, post tremendous changes to cardholder environments involving many people—follow QSA guidance recommended from their scoping efforts so testing aligns with current architecture, along with provider features of benefit to ensure everything aligns effectively.
Sources
- PCI Security Standards Council. “PCI DSS Resources and Guidance.” Accessed October 2025.
- Visa. “Payment Security and Merchant Guidance.” Accessed October 2025.
- Mastercard. “Merchant Security and Fraud Controls.” Accessed October 2025.
- Federal Reserve. “Payments Systems and Compliance Standards.” Accessed October 2025.
