RE: The goal of pentest by PCI DSS?

["Gary Everekyan" <Gary.Everekyan () consumerinfo com>]

Generally all of PCI is related to PAN data. If you can manage the scope
to be specific to that with your QSA than you are on the right track.
(Critical)
If you follow your example and lets say that you gain access to the DB
than your encryption controls should suffice as secondary temporal
controls for that threat vector.
This does not mean that you can just let it be. You have on average 30
days to fix that until your next external scan which should also show
the vulnerability  or exposure to that vector.

Secondly the purpose of any pen test is to identify logical unintended
access vectors at all levels including social Eng. Generally you should
act on the findings by applying some risk methodology to evaluate the
probability or likelihood of the event with severity in mind. How the
business will react to it is a different question all together. They can
accept it transfer it or mitigate it( hence you will need authority
resource and budget)

Your last comment about social engineering, absolutely should be part of
the Pen test. (PCI is very vague on this and they will rely on the
(12)policy and enforcement sections to manage it.)
HTH 

Regards,
Gary Everekyan
CISSP, CISM, CHS-III, ISSAP, ISSPCS, ITILp, CGEIT, MCSE, MCT 

-----Original Message-----
From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com]
On Behalf Of Taras
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2009 11:42 AM
To: pen-test () securityfocus com
Subject: The goal of pentest by PCI DSS?

Hello, all!

There is requirement 11.3 in PCI DSS [0]: "...
Perform external and internal penetration testing at least once a year
and after any significant infrastructure or application upgrade or
modification (such as an operating system upgrade, a sub- network added
to the environment, or a web server added to the environment).
...
"

> From "Information Supplement: Payment Card Industry Data Security
Standard (PCI DSS) Requirement 11.3 Penetration Testing" [1]:

"
...
The scope of penetration testing is the cardholder data environment and
all systems and networks connected to it. 
...
The penetration tests should attempt to exploit vulnerabilities and
weaknesses throughout the cardholder data environment, attempting to
penetrate both at the network level and key applications. The goal of
penetration testing is to determine if unauthorized access to key
systems and files can be achieved. 
..
"
Does this mean that the main aim of pentester by PCI DSS is cardholder
data?  Or simply aim is to gain access (exploit vulnerabilities) to as
much systems in CDE as possible? I asked about this because we can gain
access to for example Oracle DB and do not try to search PANs in it. 
Or we can gain access to some users workstation and do not try to search
cardholder data in file system.

One more question. Do you use social engineering in pentests by PCI DSS?

Thanks for answers!

[0]
https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/download.html?id
=pci_dss_v1-2.pdf
[1]
https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/infosupp_11_3_penetration_test
ing.pdf

--
Taras
----
"Software is like sex: it's better when it's free." - Linus Torvalds

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