What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on PS-04 Physical site access control?

Badge system export showing authorisation holders per security area; Report of automatically revoked credentials with the recorded inactivity dates; Visitor register with escort names and pass return times; Door reader event log for a sampled high security room.

What is the most common gap auditors find on PS-04?

Dormant contractor badges still active well past the stated inactivity limit

BSI C5 (121-criteria catalogue) · C5: Physical Security

`PS-04` Physical site access control

Control entry at every access point using an access control system whose documented rules grant least privilege authorisations, revoke unused rights after two and six months, enforce two factor authentication for areas holding customer data, escort visitors and log all entries.

Source: BSI C5 (121-criteria catalogue), PS-04. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open BSI C5 (121-criteria catalogue) in the compliance library.

The edition of the catalogue is not stamped here; check the edition your attestation is issued against.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

easy

to go live

Physical access / facilities

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

Badge system export showing authorisation holders per security area · Physical access / facilities
Door reader event log for a sampled high security room · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Report of automatically revoked credentials with the recorded inactivity dates · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Visitor register with escort names and pass return times · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Physical access / facilities. Badge system access logs and visitor register exports; facilities maintenance tickets.

Common gaps auditors find

Dormant contractor badges still active well past the stated inactivity limit
Two factor reader on the machine room door bypassed through an adjacent office door
Visitors recorded at reception yet not tracked by the badge system inside the building
No periodic reconciliation of badge holders against current job roles

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

PS-03 Perimeter Protection · PS-05 Protection from fire and smoke