Episode 6 — Track card brands and program obligations the smart way
Understanding card brands and their compliance programs helps you interpret who answers to whom and which artifacts the exam expects in different scenarios. This episode clarifies the relationship between the PCI Security Standards Council, which publishes standards, and the individual card brands—Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB—that own the compliance programs, merchant levels, and enforcement levers. You will learn how merchant and service provider levels are typically determined by annual transaction volume and risk, how those levels drive reporting obligations (e.g., SAQ versus ROC, AOC delivery, scan cadence), and how brand-specific rules still anchor to PCI DSS requirements. We also connect obligations to roles: a merchant accepting cards for its own sales follows the brand’s merchant program, while a service provider that can impact cardholder data security for others follows provider obligations and must furnish its AOC to customers on request.
We expand with realistic examples that echo exam stems: a Level 1 merchant completing a ROC under an assessor; a Level 3 merchant eligible for the right SAQ; a managed hosting provider presenting an AOC that maps shared responsibilities; and a gateway whose brand program requires specific incident notifications. Best practices include maintaining a responsibility matrix aligned to brand expectations, tracking renewal dates for AOC and attestation deliverables, and confirming that any change in volume or service scope triggers a review of level and reporting form. Troubleshooting covers edge cases such as multi-brand acceptance, cross-border acquiring relationships, and platform marketplaces where a single company holds both merchant and provider duties. The goal is quick, correct identification of the governing program, level, reporting artifact, and evidence handoff pathway in any exam scenario. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.
