What must Stripe users validate for PCI compliance?

For PCI compliance, Stripe users are required to validate their compliance on an annual basis. This annual validation is a critical component of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which provides a framework for secure handling of payment card information. The annual requirement ensures that organizations regularly review their security measures, update processes, and confirm that they continue to meet the standards set forth by PCI DSS. This frequency of validation is designed to mitigate risks associated with handling sensitive payment information while keeping security practices current.

The other options suggest validations that either occur too frequently or too infrequently compared to the established PCI DSS requirements. Validating every six months or monthly would not align with the compliance framework, and a three-year validation period does not meet the annual requirement set forth by PCI DSS. Therefore, the choice of annual validation is both compliant with PCI standards and practical for maintaining operational security.