Formerly Known As Policy Number: 84
This policy provides guidelines on acceptance and processing of credit and debit card, account number, or third party account numbers at Stanford.
Applicability:
Applies to all Stanford entities that accept payments via credit or debit card accounts or financial account numbers or third party account numbers either directly into a Stanford owned merchant account; or indirectly where a third party company accepts card or payment account payments on behalf of the University and then remits payment to a Stanford owned bank account. Section 5 of this policy applies to all third-party vendors or service providers that conduct business at Stanford.
The term "card or payment account" as used in this policy includes the use of credit or debit card accounts or account numbers (such as a bank account) or third party account numbers (such as a PayPal or Google accounts). For purposes of this policy, card or payment account acceptance and processing is defined as using any application or device for accepting a card or payment account as payment for goods or services sold by a Stanford University entity. This policy does not apply to the Stanford Card Plan, Cardinal Dollars or to the University's PCard or Travel credit card programs.
A card or payment account provides a convenient way to handle business transactions such as conference registration, the purchase of course materials, or the purchase of meals at a campus dining facility. In order to accept card or payment account payments it is the University's best interest that the acceptance and processing is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards for safeguarding card numbers, account numbers, and other High Risk Data as listed in Administrative Guide Memo 6.3.1 (https://adminguide.stanford.edu/chapters/computing/information-security/information-security): Information Security. In addition, funds from payments must be securely transferred to the University's financial systems. This policy is to establish guidelines for card or payment account acceptance and processing.
Any use of card or payment account acceptance and processing methods at Stanford must be consistent with Administrative Guide Memo 1.5.3, Unrelated Business Activity, which prohibits the use of Stanford resources for any activity not related to the University's mission.
Departments must use a Stanford authorized payment application, payment mechanism, and point of sale terminal hardware vendor (if applicable). See the Gateway to Financial Activities (Fingate) website (https://fingate.stanford.edu/receipts-gifts/credit-and-debit-card-considerations).
A service provider that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data on behalf of the University must be validated as a Level 1 service provider by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and listed on Visa’s Global Registry of Service Providers. The company listing must be current and the service being provided to the University must match the service listed on Visa’s website.
A company providing a service that can affect the security of an eCommerce transaction (eTransaction) must be validated by a QSA as a service provider and the service being provided to the University must match the services validated as compliant during the QSA assessment.
Departments wishing to engage in accepting card or payment accounts for the sale of goods or services must obtain approval from the Office of the Treasurer and comply with all terms of the University's Card and Payment Account User Agreement.
Card and payment account numbers are classified as High Risk Data. Departments must comply with Administrative Guide Memo 6.3.1: Information Security, and safeguard the confidentiality of High Risk Data related to purchases of goods or services. They may not store any High Risk card or payment account information. They must only use equipment authorized by the Office of the Treasurer to process payment information and are required to use secure and approved, or PCI DSS certified, encrypted connections to transmit payment information.
Third party vendors and service providers operating on Stanford's campus must handle data and other information generated from financial transactions involving the Stanford community ("Data") according to the Third Party Security Requirements listed on the Information Security Office’s website (https://uit.stanford.edu/security).