Three steps for effective Antivirus solution for PCI DSS

1. Installed and running on every laptop, desktop, and server at system boot. The software should be password-protected so that users cannot disable or uninstall the application. It may sound trivial, but users and administrators disable antivirus software all the time because it slows down their system. Therefore, password-protecting the administrative functions of the software has become a necessary evil.

2. The solution should also provide real-time scanning. Most of us are familiar with static scanning.That is when your desktop automatically starts a weekly scan of your hard drive or when you execute a manual scan of files on your system. Real-time scanning scans all files that the operating system uses before it is fully opened.

3. The antivirus solution must be kept up-to-date with the latest signatures. New malware is being released daily. If your antivirus solution is not current, the users and data are at risk. Auditors will check the signature time stamps to make sure they have been updated.

[Tony Bradley, PCI Compliance]