What is Truncation used for in protection of PAN?

What is Truncation used for in protection of PAN?

• A. Encrypting the PAN before storage.
• B. Masking the PAN when displayed on screens.
• C. Rendering the full PAN unreadable by permanently removing a segment of PAN data.
• D. Hashing the PAN to create an irreversible value.

Answer: (C)

Truncation protects PAN by permanently removing part of the number so the full PAN cannot be read. By eliminating a segment of the digits, the remaining data becomes unreadable and cannot be used to reconstruct the original PAN, which lowers the risk if the data store is accessed. This is different from encrypting before storage (which keeps the full PAN in encrypted form), masking on display (which hides digits but does not remove them from storage), or hashing (which produces an irreversible value). So truncation best describes rendering the full PAN unreadable by permanently removing a segment of PAN data.

Truncation protects PAN by permanently removing part of the number so the full PAN cannot be read. By eliminating a segment of the digits, the remaining data becomes unreadable and cannot be used to reconstruct the original PAN, which lowers the risk if the data store is accessed. This is different from encrypting before storage (which keeps the full PAN in encrypted form), masking on display (which hides digits but does not remove them from storage), or hashing (which produces an irreversible value). So truncation best describes rendering the full PAN unreadable by permanently removing a segment of PAN data.