💳PCI DSS 6.4Rule: PCI-6-4critical

Public-Facing Web Application Protection

Description

Public-facing web applications must be protected against known attacks via WAF or via comprehensive testing (annual + after changes).

⚠️ Risk Impact

Web applications are the dominant external attack surface. SQLi, XSS, SSRF, auth bypass — these vulnerability classes appear in production code despite decades of awareness.

🔍 How EchelonGraph Detects This

PCI-6-4Automated scanner rule

EchelonGraph's Tier 1 Cloud Scanner automatically checks for this condition across all connected cloud accounts. Violations are flagged as critical-severity findings with remediation guidance.

🔧 Remediation

Deploy WAF in blocking mode. Quarterly DAST + annual external pen test. SAST in CI. Bug bounty program. Document.

💀 Real-World Attack Scenario

British Airways 2018: a Magecart-style attack injected card-skimming JavaScript into the checkout page. 380K card records exfiltrated over 15 days. Initial penalty: £183M (later reduced to £20M). Root cause: insufficient public-facing protection.

💰 Cost of Non-Compliance

British Airways: £20M GDPR + estimated $50M+ remediation. Avg public-facing breach: $5.1M.

📋 Audit Questions

  • 1.WAF deployed in blocking mode?
  • 2.Quarterly DAST evidence?
  • 3.Annual pen test?
  • 4.SAST integrated into CI?

🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

T1190 — Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1059.007 — JavaScript

⚡ Common Pitfalls

  • ⛔WAF in monitor mode
  • ⛔Annual pen test only — no continuous testing
  • ⛔SAST findings dismissed without remediation

📈 Business Value

Multi-layer web protection catches the dominant external attack vectors.

⏱️ Effort Estimate

Manual

Ongoing test + WAF tuning + pen test budget

With EchelonGraph

EchelonGraph monitors WAF posture + integrates SAST findings

🔗 Cross-Framework References

SOC2-CC8.1OWASP_LLM-LLM05

Automate PCI DSS 6.4 compliance

EchelonGraph continuously monitors this control across all your cloud accounts.

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