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Governance, Risk, Audit & Privacy · Intermediate

Cardholder Data Environment (CDE)

People, processes, and technology that store, process, or transmit cardholder data or sensitive authentication data, plus connected systems.

Definition

Systems that can affect the security of the CDE, such as authentication servers or jump hosts, are also in scope. Network segmentation is not required but strongly recommended to reduce scope. Annual scope confirmation is required under v4.

Example

A segmented VLAN containing POS servers and the payment database forms the CDE.

Exam tip

Any system connected to the CDE is in scope unless properly segmented.

Related terms