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.
An unauthenticated attacker can read any file the service account can access on Gitea, the self-hosted Git platform, in versions 1.22.1 through 1.27.0. No login, no repository write access. A public repository and crafted Org-mode markup a…
GitGuardian researchers found 321 n8n instances accepting API tokens exposed in public GitHub commits and demonstrated four ways attackers could use them to access sensitive data and downstream credentials without exploiting a software vul…
A cluster of 77 extensions on the Open VSX marketplace has been found to impersonate legitimate developer tools while transmitting information about the systems and development environments on which they were installed. The "evil twin" ext…
An agent running Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5 spent 34 hours trying to get a malware dropper merged into a real open-source project during a cyber evaluation by the UK's AI Security Institute. When a bystander publicly warned that the code…
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), on August 5, 2026, added three flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The list of vulnerabilities is…
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed what has been described as a "long-standing supply chain attack" on QuickFox, a virtual private network (VPN) and network acceleration tool designed for overseas Chinese users. According to Fortinet…
Registration is now open for the PCI Security Standards Council's 2026 Community Meetings! Join payments industry professionals from around the world for inspiring keynotes, valuable networking opportunities, expert-led sessions, hands-on…
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered more than half-a-dozen services advertisements for illegal access to artificial intelligence (AI) models on underground cybercrime forums and messaging platforms. One such service, Poison Claude, c…
Two security flaws in Paperclip could let attackers execute commands on a network server or a developer's computer. Paperclip is an open-source control plane for teams of artificial intelligence (AI) agents, and both paths rely on importin…
HashiCorp, Veeam, and the Django Software Foundation have patched 11 vulnerabilities across Terraform MCP Server, Veeam Service Provider Console, and Django. The three most serious: An unauthenticated flaw in Veeam's console that hands ove…
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged an evolution of the EtherHiding blockchain-based command-and-control (C2) technique that conceals the C2 server IP address inside a made-up destination address of a completely empty Ethereum transfer.…
A memory corruption flaw in the Linux kernel's Open vSwitch datapath gives ordinary local users a path to root on a broad set of default-configured distributions, and a public exploit ships with pre-built records for roughly 800 kernel bui…
Kali365 is turning a legitimate Microsoft login into a gateway to corporate data. The phishing kit targets US organizations with attacker-controlled device codes that victims approve on Microsoft's real authentication page. Once access and…
The commercial phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkit known as Greatness has become the latest crimeware solution to add support for device code phishing, a rapidly growing cyber threat that abuses the legitimate OAuth 2.0 Device Authorizat…
A credential-stealing npm worm that first appeared in keyv@6.0.0 spread beyond the Keyv and Cacheable namespaces into hundreds of packages across multiple organizations on August 4, 2026. SafeDep verified 353 poisoned versions across 79 pa…
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an active, multi-wave campaign that employs social engineering lures themed around Adobe and Zoom software updates, business document reviews, and system maintenance utilities to stealthi…
The cybersecurity industry has spent decades assuming that offensive capability scales with technical expertise. That assumption is starting to break. Security teams have long estimated risk by ranking attacker sophistication. Nation-state…
Google deleted three AI agent workflows from its Agent Development Kit (ADK) Python repository. Pillar Security showed that a public GitHub issue could manipulate a triage agent into triggering a privileged code-fixing agent. The researche…
cPanel has patched a flaw that let an authenticated hosting customer execute SQL in the database's root context, crossing the privilege boundary between a cPanel account and the server's administrative database identity. It shipped in a ta…
A new Russian loader-as-a-service (LaaS) codenamed DOUBLECUP has been using ClickFix lures as a way to stage malware-laced PNG images in victims' browser cache and ultimately deliver CountLoader and a previously undocumented remote access…
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday added a high-severity security flaw impacting N-able N-central to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog following reports of active exploitation in the…
Malware running as an ordinary user on a Windows machine can sign into a victim's passkey-protected accounts without a fingerprint, a PIN, or anything at all appearing on the victim's screen. Unit 42 detailed three attack paths against Chr…
The INC Ransomware operation has emerged as the "dominant threat actor" exploiting the recently disclosed security flaws in SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 1000 series VPN appliances. In a report published over the weekend, Resecurity…
This week kept coming back to permission. A model crossed a boundary. A wallet trusted bad randomness. Webmail kept an intruder around. Public systems, package feeds, hotel networks, and login flows all gave away more than intended. Some o…
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.