What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 1.3.3 NSCs between wireless networks and the CDE?

Network diagram showing NSC placement between each wireless network and the CDE; NSC rulesets for wireless-to-CDE paths showing default deny and specific authorised allows; Business justification for each permitted wireless-to-CDE flow; Inventory of wireless networks, including guest and corporate SSIDs.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 1.3.3?

Guest or corporate Wi-Fi bridged into a VLAN that routes to the CDE without filtering

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

`1.3.3` NSCs between wireless networks and the CDE

Network security controls must sit between each wireless network and the cardholder data environment, whether or not that wireless network is itself part of the CDE, configured so that (a) by default, any wireless traffic heading for the CDE is refused and (b) only wireless traffic with an authorised business purpose is let into the CDE. Applicability: no special notes; applies to every assessed entity. Objective under the customized approach: unauthorised traffic cannot cross boundaries between any wireless network and the wired CDE environment.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 1.3.3. 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

moderate

to go live

Document repository

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

NSC rulesets for wireless-to-CDE paths showing default deny and specific authorised allows · Document repository

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Network diagram showing NSC placement between each wireless network and the CDE · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Business justification for each permitted wireless-to-CDE flow · Document repository
Inventory of wireless networks, including guest and corporate SSIDs · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 artefacts that already live in a system (Document repository); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Guest or corporate Wi-Fi bridged into a VLAN that routes to the CDE without filtering
Wireless networks deemed out of scope with no NSC in place, relying on VLAN separation alone
Wireless handheld payment devices allowed broad access into the CDE rather than specific services

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

1.3.2 Outbound CDE traffic restricted · 1.4.1 NSCs between trusted and untrusted networks