PCI DSS Consulting Services

PCI Compliance Consulting for Businesses That Handle Payment Card Data

PCI DSS compliance can get complicated fast, especially if your payment processing uses e-commerce platforms, point-of-sale systems, cloud services, payment processors, apps, employees, or third-party vendors.

Tanner Security provides PCI DSS consulting to help businesses understand their requirements, define PCI scope, review security controls, identify compliance gaps, improve policies, prepare for assessments, and better protect payment card data.

Our consultants view PCI compliance as both a cybersecurity and business risk matter. We help your team understand PCI DSS requirements, how they apply to your environment, and what to address first.

PCI DSS v4.0.1 is the current version of the standard. PCI Security Standards Council published v4.0.1 as a limited revision that corrected errors and clarified the focus and goal of some requirements. PCI DSS v4.0 retired on December 31, 2024.

PCI DSS has many technical and operational requirements. Most businesses find it harder to figure out how these rules apply to their own environment than to simply read the standard.

A company may know that PCI DSS requires access controls but not know which accounts, applications, systems, and processes fall within scope.

Another business may understand that it needs vulnerability management but struggle to determine whether its scanning, remediation, and documentation processes support the applicable requirements.

A company may also have appropriate controls but lack the documentation or evidence needed to demonstrate that those controls operate consistently.

Hiring a PCI consulting team can help to bring all these pieces together.

The goal is not to add unnecessary work. We want to help your business understand its payment security responsibilities and make improvements that address PCI requirements and real cybersecurity risks.

One of the first questions we address during a PCI engagement is:

       “What falls within your PCI environment?”

The Cardholder Data Environment includes systems and components that store, process, or transmit payment account data, along with other components that can affect that environment’s security.

Your PCI scope may include significantly more than the database or payment application that directly handles payment information.

Authentication systems, administrative access, network infrastructure, security controls, applications, cloud services, and third-party connections can all affect the payment environment’s security.

Tanner Security helps map these relationships so your company can make smart scoping decisions.

Good scoping can cut down on extra compliance work and make sure important systems aren’t missed during the security review.

PCI DSS v4.x gives businesses two implementation approaches: the Defined Approach and the Customized Approach.

The Customized Approach gives you more flexibility if your technology or security practices don’t fit the traditional Defined Approach.

However, this flexibility also brings additional responsibility.

PCI SSC states that the business implementing a Customized Approach must define and document the customized control, perform the required targeted risk analysis, demonstrate that the control meets the applicable security objective, test its effectiveness, and document how the control remains effective over time.

PCI SSC also published new guidance in June 2026 clarifying the distinction between compensating controls and the Customized Approach. The Council stated that these options serve different purposes and that the Customized Approach requires mature risk-management practices and strong documentation.

Tanner Security can help your team decide if the Customized Approach is right for your environment and what documentation and analysis you’ll need.

PCI DSS v4.x introduced Targeted Risk Analysis (TRA) for certain situations.

A targeted risk analysis can support decisions about how frequently a control should occur when the standard provides flexibility. PCI SSC also requires a targeted risk analysis for requirements implemented through the Customized Approach.

A TRA should focus on the specific risk behind the control, not just act as a general yearly risk assessment.

Tanner Security can help your team document assets, threats, likelihood, impact, reasons, and control frequency to match PCI requirements.

Many companies rely on payment processors, cloud providers, managed service providers, hosting providers, e-commerce platforms, and software vendors.

These relationships can affect your PCI scope and responsibilities, but outsourcing payment functions does not automatically remove your company’s PCI obligations.

Your business still needs to know which controls it’s responsible for, what the service provider handles, and what evidence supports the relationship.

PCI DSS v4.0.1 also clarified portions of the standard related to relationships between customers and third-party service providers.

Tanner Security can help your company review these relationships and include the right responsibilities in your PCI program.

E-commerce environments have unique PCI challenges because online payments can use web applications, payment pages, JavaScript, APIs, cloud infrastructure, third-party scripts, payment processors, and customer browsers.

PCI DSS v4.x introduced additional focus on e-commerce payment security, and PCI SSC continues to publish guidance and clarifications on payment-page security and applicable SAQ requirements.

Tanner Security can review your online payment setup, find security gaps, and help your company understand which controls apply.

That work can include web application security, payment-page security, third-party services, authentication, vulnerability management, and technical testing.

PCI DSS consulting should prepare your company for its applicable validation process, but consulting and formal validation do not necessarily represent the same engagement.

Depending on your company’s circumstances, the applicable validation process may involve a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), Report on Compliance (ROC), or another method.

PCI SSC explains that compliance-accepting entities, typically payment brands and acquirers, determine the applicable validation and reporting method. Assessors then validate that the scope of the requirements has been correctly defined and documented.

Tanner Security can help your business get ready for that process.

We also clarify that consulting support differs from formal assessor duties. PCI SSC says a QSA can help with scope, requirements, or control testing for a self-assessment, as long as the roles are clearly defined.

A PCI gap assessment represents one component of PCI consulting.

A gap assessment focuses primarily on identifying differences between current controls and applicable PCI DSS requirements.

PCI consulting can cover a wider range of services, including defining scope, developing policies, implementing controls, supporting remediation, technical testing, assessment prep, and ongoing guidance.

A company that already understands its PCI scope and simply wants to know where it has gaps may need a gap assessment.

A company that needs help from the first scoping step through remediation and assessment prep may benefit from broader PCI consulting.

A PCI consultant looks at the bigger compliance program.

A PCI CDE penetration test checks if an attacker could exploit weaknesses in your technical environment.

PCI DSS may require penetration testing for applicable environments, but a penetration test does not replace the larger PCI program.

Often, the most effective approach is to use both services together.

The consultant helps figure out what the company needs to address.

The penetration tester helps find out what an attacker could exploit.

Tanner Security has over 20 years of cybersecurity consulting experience with PCI and information security projects.

Our services go beyond compliance consulting. We also do penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, IT risk assessments, IT audits, policy development, network security assessments, and other technical security work.

This broader experience matters because PCI requirements don’t exist in a vacuum.

An access-control problem can create both a PCI compliance issue and a larger cybersecurity risk.

A network segmentation weakness can affect PCI scope while also giving an attacker a path toward critical systems.

An outdated incident-response policy can create compliance concerns and operational risk.

Tanner Security pays attention to these connections.

Our PCI compliance consultants focus on practical recommendations that leadership and IT teams can use, instead of creating documentation that adds complexity without improving security.

We also provide fixed-fee proposals based on the defined scope of work.

PCI DSS consulting often identifies technical or administrative issues that require additional services. Tanner Security provides the related expertise needed to address those issues.

PCI Gap Assessment: Identify where your current security controls fall short of applicable PCI DSS requirements and receive a prioritized remediation roadmap.

PCI Policy Review: Review information-security policies and supporting procedures for missing, outdated, or inconsistent PCI-related requirements.

PCI CDE Penetration Testing: Test systems and networks within or connected to your Cardholder Data Environment and determine whether attackers can exploit security weaknesses.

Network Vulnerability Assessment: Identify known vulnerabilities across systems and infrastructure that support or connect to your payment environment.

Network Penetration Testing: Evaluate internal and external attack paths to determine whether attackers can exploit vulnerabilities and move through the environment.

Web Application Penetration Testing: Evaluate web applications and APIs for authentication, authorization, business logic, session management, input validation, and other application-security weaknesses.

IT Risk Assessment: Evaluate broader technology and cybersecurity risks beyond PCI DSS and help leadership prioritize security investments.

IT Audit Services: Obtain an independent review of technology controls, governance, security practices, and compliance objectives.

IT Policy Development: Develop practical security policies that support PCI DSS and your company’s broader cybersecurity program.

PCI compliance should do more than just get your company through an assessment.

Your security controls should protect payment card data, lower the risk of compromise, and give leadership confidence that the business understands its security responsibilities.

Tanner Security combines PCI DSS consulting with hands-on cybersecurity expertise to help businesses define scope, identify gaps, strengthen controls, and prepare for validation.