What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 1.2.1 Ruleset configuration standards for NSCs?

Approved NSC ruleset configuration standard listing permitted protocols, ports and required settings; Exported rulesets from firewalls, router ACLs and cloud security groups compared to the standard; Maintenance history of the standard showing periodic revision and approval; Configuration compliance scan output flagging deviations from the ruleset standard.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 1.2.1?

Standard exists for on-premises firewalls but cloud security groups and Kubernetes network policies are not covered

PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 1: Network Security Controls

`1.2.1` Ruleset configuration standards for NSCs

The entity must have configuration standards for the rulesets of its network security controls, and those standards must be defined, put into effect on the devices, and kept maintained over time. The guidance gives firewalls, cloud virtual networks and routers filtered by ACLs as examples of NSCs such standards cover. Applicability: no special notes; applies to every assessed entity. Customized approach objective: how NSCs are set up and how they behave is specified in advance and applied the same way across the environment.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 1.2.1. 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 PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

easy

to go live

Cloud console / configuration management

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

Exported rulesets from firewalls, router ACLs and cloud security groups compared to the standard · Cloud console / configuration management
Maintenance history of the standard showing periodic revision and approval · Cloud console / configuration management
Configuration compliance scan output flagging deviations from the ruleset standard · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Approved NSC ruleset configuration standard listing permitted protocols, ports and required settings · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Cloud console / configuration management. Configuration snapshots and change history from the cloud console or IaC repository, diffed against the baseline.

Common gaps auditors find

Standard exists for on-premises firewalls but cloud security groups and Kubernetes network policies are not covered
Live rulesets contain allow-any entries the standard prohibits
Standard has not been updated since new NSC technology was introduced

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

1.1.2 Requirement 1 roles and responsibilities assigned · 1.2.2 Network connection and NSC changes under change control