Hey jschnyderite,
Good question... the truth it, I don't know - but I suspect not. Not because FT is at all unsecure, but PCI has such strict requirements.
From what I understand about PCI, it's entirely about securing servers so they can safely process credit card transactions. Form Tools should NOT be used for that. The reason is, Form Tools stores form submission content unencrypted in the database. You can't have people's credit cards stored unencrypted in a DB - it's just a bad idea. If your server is running any single script with a security hole, that information could potentially be accessed - and PHP is a notoriously unsecure programming language and there are OODLES of bad PHP scripts out there.
But if you really wanted to pursue this option there are still possibilities, but they should be examined & weighed by a security specialist. First, you use the Submission Pre-Parser module to encrypt cc information prior to storing in the database. You could juggle encryption salts to minimize the likelihood of the data being unencrypted if the DB was breached. You could also use Form Tools to *initially* store the CC data, then after they've been processed, delete the sensitive information from that record. Alternatively, you could export all content to a local server, safe behind a firewall, and delete all "public" FT database content on a schedule.
But to return to your original question about PCI, I don't really know enough about their requirements. I think you may need to spend time poring over their docs or get a specialist in to help determine the route to take. There are very possibly issues I haven't thought off that would need to be addressed separately.
If you do find out anything and need to ramp up FT's security in one or other regard, please let me know.
Thanks!
- Ben
Good question... the truth it, I don't know - but I suspect not. Not because FT is at all unsecure, but PCI has such strict requirements.
From what I understand about PCI, it's entirely about securing servers so they can safely process credit card transactions. Form Tools should NOT be used for that. The reason is, Form Tools stores form submission content unencrypted in the database. You can't have people's credit cards stored unencrypted in a DB - it's just a bad idea. If your server is running any single script with a security hole, that information could potentially be accessed - and PHP is a notoriously unsecure programming language and there are OODLES of bad PHP scripts out there.
But if you really wanted to pursue this option there are still possibilities, but they should be examined & weighed by a security specialist. First, you use the Submission Pre-Parser module to encrypt cc information prior to storing in the database. You could juggle encryption salts to minimize the likelihood of the data being unencrypted if the DB was breached. You could also use Form Tools to *initially* store the CC data, then after they've been processed, delete the sensitive information from that record. Alternatively, you could export all content to a local server, safe behind a firewall, and delete all "public" FT database content on a schedule.
But to return to your original question about PCI, I don't really know enough about their requirements. I think you may need to spend time poring over their docs or get a specialist in to help determine the route to take. There are very possibly issues I haven't thought off that would need to be addressed separately.
If you do find out anything and need to ramp up FT's security in one or other regard, please let me know.
Thanks!
- Ben