How QSAs Can Better Communicate the Growing eSkimming Threat to Clients

by Source Defense

Qualified Security Assessors play a critical role in helping organizations understand and meet PCI requirements. Yet when it comes to eSkimming, many assessments still focus on surface-level controls rather than the underlying risk. As a result, clients may technically pass compliance checks while remaining deeply exposed to client-side attacks.

One of the biggest challenges QSAs face is translating a highly technical threat into a business-relevant conversation. Many clients still view eSkimming as a narrow issue limited to payment pages or legacy malware. Helping them understand how the threat has evolved is essential.

The first step is reframing eSkimming as a digital supply chain problem, not just a payment security issue. Modern attacks often originate in third-party scripts that organizations neither own nor directly manage. These scripts operate in the browser, outside the visibility of traditional security tools. Once clients understand that attackers can abuse legitimate vendors and integrations, the risk becomes far more tangible.

QSAs should also emphasize that compliance does not equal protection. Meeting the letter of PCI requirements without continuous monitoring leaves significant gaps. Point-in-time assessments cannot account for dynamic script behavior, automatic updates, or vendor compromises that occur after the audit.

Concrete examples help bridge this gap. Demonstrating how a single compromised analytics or marketing script could access payment fields – or collect sensitive data earlier in the journey – makes the threat real. Clients often assume that trusted vendors are inherently safe. QSAs can explain why trust without verification is no longer viable.

Another key point is helping clients understand the limitations of traditional controls. Content Security Policy, allowlists, and periodic scanning all have value, but none can prevent a trusted script from behaving maliciously at runtime. Without behavioral monitoring, organizations are effectively blind.

Finally, QSAs should guide clients toward sustainable solutions rather than short-term fixes. Encouraging automation, real-time visibility, and policy enforcement aligns compliance efforts with actual risk reduction. This not only improves security posture but also simplifies future audits by providing clear evidence of ongoing control.By shifting the conversation from checkbox compliance to continuous risk management, QSAs can help clients build defenses that hold up long after the assessment is complete.

Source Defense has long focused on helping QSAs better understand the eSkimming problem from both a technical and business perspective. We’d like to engage with you – drop us a line (qsasupport@sourcedefense.com) and let’s work together to help drive down this threat in the global payments ecosystem.