PCI DSS Scope Management
Every system that touches cardholder data is in PCI scope. Tokenization and network segmentation can dramatically reduce PCI scope — and therefore the cost and complexity of compliance.
AWS Security Consulting
AWS Cloud Security for Retail & E-Commerce
We secure retail and e-commerce platforms on AWS — reducing PCI DSS scope through tokenization, protecting customer data under CCPA, and defending against the DDoS and bot attacks that target checkout flows.
- A signal or assessment finding arrives.
- Detection stays on, not a one-off scan.
- Assess ranks the finding and its blast radius.
- Containment changes IAM, network, or workload scope.
- Production changes wait for a named owner and a change window.
- The posture that remains is the one you can show an auditor.
Key Challenges We Solve
CCPA Customer Data Protection
California Consumer Privacy Act requires data inventory, consumer request workflows (right to delete, right to know), and security controls for customer personal information.
Checkout Flow DDoS Protection
E-commerce platforms are high-value DDoS targets, especially during sale events. Attackers targeting checkout flows can cause direct revenue loss without compromising data.
Bot Traffic & Account Takeover
Credential stuffing attacks, scraping bots, and fake account creation affect customer trust, inventory availability, and promotional abuse. WAF rules and bot control are essential.
Our Approach
PCI Scope Reduction Architecture
Tokenization via Stripe or Braintree to keep cardholder data off your servers, dedicated CDE VPC with strict security group rules, and network segmentation that limits PCI scope to the minimal required systems.
AWS WAF + Shield Advanced
WAF rules targeting e-commerce attack patterns (SQL injection, XSS, bot traffic), Shield Advanced for DDoS protection with 24/7 AWS DDoS Response Team access during attacks, and rate limiting on checkout and login endpoints.
CCPA Compliance Architecture
Customer data inventory using AWS Glue Data Catalog, automated deletion workflows triggered by consumer requests, S3 Object Lock for audit trail immutability, and Macie for sensitive data discovery in data stores.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do we reduce PCI DSS scope for our e-commerce platform?
The most effective PCI scope reduction is tokenization — using Stripe, Braintree, or Adyen to handle cardholder data so it never touches your servers. With tokenization, your PCI scope reduces to the systems that transmit the payment token, not cardholder data. This can reduce your SAQ level from SAQ D (most complex) to SAQ A or SAQ A-EP (significantly simpler).
How do you protect against checkout DDoS during Black Friday?
We implement AWS Shield Advanced for volumetric DDoS protection with automatic mitigation, WAF rate limiting on checkout and payment endpoints (limiting to 100 requests/minute per IP), CloudFront distribution to absorb traffic at the edge, and an emergency scaling runbook. Shield Advanced also provides access to the AWS DDoS Response Team if an attack occurs during peak season.
What CCPA controls do we need for our customer database?
Key CCPA technical controls include: (1) data inventory documenting what personal information you collect and where it is stored, (2) automated workflows to process deletion requests (delete across all databases, backups, and third-party systems), (3) access controls limiting employee access to customer PII to those with legitimate business need, and (4) encryption of customer data at rest and in transit.
Ready to Get Started?
Talk to our AWS experts about aws cloud security for retail & e-commerce.