Can a PCI Internal Security Assessor validate level 1 merchants?

There are differences between Internal Security Assessors and Qualified Security Assessors (QSA), as well as the assessments they're able to validate. With these assessments, there are also particular levels of providers and merchants that require different standards of validation.

Internal Security Assessors are normally employees of the organization being assessed. This closeness to the business can create a better understanding of the processes of the system owners, but when level 1 service providers are involved, there needs to be a third-party perspective.

A service provider is defined as an entity that processes, stores or transmits cardholder data on behalf of another business or organization. Like merchants, there are multiple levels of service providers, and a level 1 merchant requires a Qualified Security Assessor to complete the reports on compliance.

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