What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on DCS-10 Secure Area Authorization?

Physical access authorisation list for each secure area, with approver; Badge system access logs for a sample period; Periodic access review records removing people who no longer need entry; Visitor log and escort records; Retention setting and storage evidence for access records.

What is the most common gap auditors find on DCS-10?

Leavers keep active badges for weeks

CSA CCM v4.1 · DCS - Datacenter Security

`DCS-10` Secure Area Authorization

Only authorised personnel may enter secure areas. Every entry and exit point is restricted, recorded and watched through physical access control mechanisms, and access records are kept for a period the organisation decides.

Source: CSA CCM v4.1, DCS-10. 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 CSA CCM v4.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.1 adds 11 controls (among them API security, log sanitisation and a service bill of materials) and renumbers several domains. CSA accepts v4.0.x during its transition; if your STAR assessment is still on v4.0.1, check the numbering against it.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

moderate

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 access logs for a sample period · Physical access / facilities
Visitor log and escort records · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Retention setting and storage evidence for access records · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Physical access authorisation list for each secure area, with approver · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Periodic access review records removing people who no longer need entry · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 2 of 5 artefacts that already live in a system (Physical access / facilities); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Leavers keep active badges for weeks
Tailgating not prevented or detected at secure area doors
Access logs overwritten before the retention period the policy sets

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

DCS-09 Equipment Identification · DCS-11 Surveillance System