EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 10: Logging and Monitoring

10.4.1.1 Automated mechanisms used for audit log review

Audit log reviews must be carried out using automated mechanisms. Applies to all entities. The guidance gives log collection, parsing and alerting tools, central log management, event log analyzers and SIEM solutions as examples, and recommends a baseline of normal activity and periodic tuning of tool settings. Objective under the customized approach: a consistent, repeatable mechanism picks up activity that may be suspicious or anomalous. Future-dated: treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 10.4.1.1. 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.

5
artefacts
2
held by a system
0
at each review
moderate
to go live
SIEM / log platform
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

  • Sample automated alerts generated and triaged · SIEM / log platform
  • Records of periodic tuning of tool settings after environment changes · SIEM / log platform

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • SIEM or log analytics platform description and scope · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Correlation rules and use cases configured for suspicious activity · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Baseline of normal activity patterns used for detection · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

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

Common gaps auditors find

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.

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10.4.1 Daily review of security-relevant logs · 10.4.2 Periodic review of all other system component logs