As the payments landscape continues to evolve, PCI DSS 4.0.1 is reshaping how organisations safeguard cardholder data and streamline compliance. Ground Labs was proud to support this year’s PCI Security Standards Council Asia‑Pacific Community Meeting, held in vibrant Bangkok, Thailand — a key forum for payment security professionals, Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs) and compliance leaders from across the region.

The multi‑day event brought together attendees from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, China, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, providing valuable opportunities to reconnect with long-standing QSA partners — including Foregenix, ICMS, atsec and LGMS — and engage with customers navigating the latest PCI DSS v4.0.1 updates.

Connecting with QSAs and customers on PCI DSS 4.0.1 and data discovery

Throughout the event, the Ground Labs team met with QSAs, PCI compliance managers and IT security teams to discuss the evolution of PCI DSS 4.0.1 and how organisations are adapting as new clarification and guidance become available.

A recurring topic was how data discovery plays a vital role in enabling automation within PCI DSS compliance. As explored in our related article PCI DSS v4.0.1 — What You Need to Know, automated data discovery helps identify and classify cardholder data, significantly reducing the manual effort required to validate PCI DSS scope.

Cardholder data discovery directly supports 27 PCI DSS controls, helping organisations maintain compliance accuracy, reduce risk exposure and simplify QSA audits.

We also heard a consistent message from compliance professionals — the growing focus on simplifying and automating compliance programmes. The PCI SSC Community Meetings continue to be one of the best venues for payment security experts to network, share knowledge and align on the future of PCI DSS compliance.

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Key highlights and insights from the Asia-Pacific Community Meeting

The event delivered several valuable presentations and forward-looking discussions. Here are our top highlights:

1. Modernising PCI SSC Standards

The PCI SSC outlined its roadmap to modernise how standards are developed and published, including:

  • Transitioning from PDF to XML-based authoring for flexibility and interoperability

  • Supporting integration with automated compliance platforms

These advancements will help organisations and QSAs adopt and operationalise PCI standards more efficiently as compliance becomes increasingly data-driven.

2. A Risk-based approach to vulnerability management

Continuous vulnerability scanning remains essential for reducing risk. Key reminders included:

  • “Scan as often as you can.” Frequent scanning allows for faster detection and remediation.

  • Apply a risk-ranking approach (e.g., Critical within 30 days, High within 60 days)

  • Regular data discovery scans follow the same principle — frequent scanning ensures ongoing visibility of where sensitive data resides

Relevant PCI DSS requirements: 11.3.1 and 6.3.1

3. Encryption keys as a strategic enabler

Strong encryption depends on strong key management:

  • “Hackers don’t break encryption — they find keys lying around.”

  • Avoid shared keys in cloud KMS environments

  • Follow NIST 800-88 for secure key destruction

  • Automate key rotation and integrate lifecycle management into CI/CD pipelines

Expect future compliance dashboards to visualise key lifecycles, improving transparency and auditability

4. The future of consulting and payments strategy in the age of AI

Presented by Sheue Chee Beh of Yuno, this session explored how technology and human judgement intersect in the AI era. Key takeaways:

  • AI serves as a “junior consultant”, improving analysis and efficiency

  • Real impact still relies on stakeholder alignment and trust

  • “It’s 30% technology, 70% stakeholder alignment.”

  • Consultants must act as orchestrators — blending human insight with AI-driven support tools

5. Keynote: The future consumer — Hyper-personalisation, AI and invisible payments

In a forward-looking keynote, Sharon Gai explored how AI is transforming commerce and payments:

  • AI drives hyper-personalised experiences and real-time payment decisions

  • Answer engines such as ChatGPT and Perplexity are reshaping product discovery

  • Partnerships between LLMs and payment platforms (Visa Intelligent Commerce, PayPal, ChatGPT) signal a shift toward AI-driven transactions

Her key message:

“Today’s version of AI is the worst version of AI we will ever have.”
The future will only grow smarter — and organisations must prepare for a world where AI agents transact on behalf of consumers, reshaping trust, identity and compliance

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Ground Labs’ commitment to the PCI Community

Ground Labs has been part of the PCI compliance community for more than 18 years, and our commitment remains steadfast. We continue to help organisations and QSAs:

  • Automate data discovery and classification to reduce compliance risk

  • Simplify scope validation under PCI DSS 4.0.1

  • Support assessments with accurate, verifiable data

Events like the PCI SSC Asia-Pacific Community Meeting are essential for advancing collaboration and innovation across the global payments ecosystem

We look forward to continuing the conversation throughout 2025 — driving progress in PCI DSS compliance, automation and data protection together.

 

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