The March 31, 2025 deadline for PCI DSS 4.0 is history. Full enforcement is now in effect, and auditors are actively testing for compliance with all new requirements.
If your organization hasn't addressed the new, mandatory authentication standards, you are no longer just "getting ready"—you are non-compliant. This exposes your organization to severe monthly fines, increased transaction fees, and the immediate risk of a data breach.
One of the most critical new controls is Requirement 8.3.10, which mandates that you check all user passwords against a list of known compromised credentials.
You must block users from creating passwords that have appeared in data breaches.
You must have a system in place to do this at the time of password creation or change.
Simply enforcing complexity (like P@ssword1!) is no longer enough and will result in a failed audit.
Auditors are no longer treating this as a "best practice"; it is a mandatory, testable requirement.
Failing a PCI audit is not a minor issue. The consequences are immediate and severe.
Payment card brands can levy penalties from $5,000 to $100,000 per month until you fix the non-compliance.
Ongoing monthly penalties add up quickly, making delays extremely costly.
The requirement exists because stolen credentials are the #1 attack vector. If you aren't blocking compromised passwords, you are a prime target for account takeover and a data breach.
A single breach can cost millions in remediation and legal fees.
A failed audit or a resulting breach destroys customer trust and can lead to you losing your ability to process payments altogether.
Loss of payment processing capabilities means loss of revenue.
The grace period is over. Your organization is now subject to full enforcement of all PCI DSS 4.0 requirements. Auditors will test for Requirement 8.3.10 compliance, and failure will have immediate financial and operational consequences.
Our Leaked Credential Monitoring service is the fastest, most effective way to close this compliance gap and protect your organization.
We maintain a massive, real-time database of billions of compromised credentials sourced continuously from the deep and dark web, data breaches, and threat intelligence feeds.
Continuously updated from multiple intelligence sources
Instant password validation at creation time
RESTful API with comprehensive documentation
All data encrypted and securely stored
Our API integrates directly into your password reset and creation pages. It instantly checks any new password against our database and allows you to block compromised ones before they are ever set, ensuring you pass your audit.
Don't just wait for a user to change their password. Our service continuously monitors for your company's email domains (e.g., your-company.com) in new breaches. The moment an employee's password is leaked anywhere, we alert you so you can force a password reset immediately—before it can be used against you.
This is not a complex, months-long project. You can integrate our API and be fully compliant with Requirement 8.3.10 in a single afternoon.
Access to 60B+ compromised credentials from multiple intelligence sources—far beyond what public breach databases offer.
Complete API documentation and implementation guides designed to help you demonstrate compliance during your PCI audit.
The grace period is over. Every day you operate without this control is a risk to your business. Our solution is not a complex, months-long project. You can integrate our API and be fully compliant with Requirement 8.3.10 in a single afternoon.
PCI DSS 4.0 Requirement 8.3.10 specifically states: "If passwords/passphrases are used as authentication factors to meet Requirement 8.3.1, they are not used as the only authentication factor for high-risk transactions, and new or changed passwords/passphrases are compared against a source to verify they are not currently listed as commonly used, compromised, or weak."
What this means in practice: Organizations must implement a system that checks passwords against a database of known compromised credentials during the password creation or change process. This is a technical control that must be demonstratable during a PCI audit.
Why it matters: Compromised credentials are the leading cause of data breaches. By preventing users from setting passwords that are already known to be compromised, organizations significantly reduce their attack surface and protect cardholder data.
PCI DSS 4.0 Requirement 8.3.10 mandates that organizations block users from creating passwords that appear in known data breaches. This requires checking new or changed passwords against a database of compromised credentials at the time of password creation or change. This became mandatory on March 31, 2025.
Payment card brands can levy penalties from $5,000 to $100,000 per month for PCI DSS non-compliance. Additional consequences include increased transaction fees, potential loss of payment processing capabilities, liability for fraud losses, and reputational damage from security breaches.
You can integrate LeakJar's credential monitoring API and become compliant with Requirement 8.3.10 in under 1 hour. Our RESTful API includes comprehensive documentation and can be integrated into your password creation and change workflows immediately.
Credential monitoring checks passwords against a database of 60+ billion compromised credentials from data breaches and dark web sources. When a user tries to create or change a password, the system instantly verifies it hasn't been compromised, blocking breached passwords and satisfying Requirement 8.3.10.
Password complexity rules alone are no longer sufficient under PCI DSS 4.0. While complexity requirements remain, organizations must also implement credential screening against compromised password databases. A complex password like 'P@ssword1!' would still fail compliance if it appears in breach databases.
For Requirement 8.3.10, auditors require evidence of: 1) Integration with a compromised credential database, 2) Real-time password checking at creation/change, 3) Blocking of compromised passwords, and 4) Audit logs demonstrating the control is operational. LeakJar provides all necessary documentation for QSA audits.