Working through our acquiring members, the MasterCard SDP Program is designed to help members, merchants and Service Providers - Third Party Processors (TPPs) and Data Storage Entities (DSEs) - proactively protect themselves and the overall payment system against the threat of compromises. The SDP Program seeks to accomplish this by identifying vulnerabilities in security processes, procedures and Web site configurations. A key focus of the SDP Program is to ensure that Merchants and Service Providers are securely storing MasterCard account data in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI Data Security Standard).

Since the goal of the SDP Program is compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard, Merchants and Service Providers must demonstrate this compliance by using the following validation tools:

• Onsite Assessments
• Self Assessment Questionnaires
• Quarterly Network Scans

Please consult the appropriate sections on this Web site to understand how you will use these validation tools to achieve and demonstrate compliance.