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

10.6.3 Time sync configuration and time data protected

Time synchronization settings and data must be protected as follows: only personnel with a business need may access time data; and any change to time settings on critical systems must be logged, monitored and reviewed. Applies to all entities. The guidance explains that attackers alter time settings to cover their tracks, so limiting who can change time configuration or system time reduces that risk. Customized approach objective: unauthorized personnel cannot change system time settings.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 10.6.3. 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.

4
artefacts
2
held by a system
1
at each review
easy
to go live
Identity provider / directory
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

  • List of users and roles allowed to change time settings or time server configuration · Identity provider / directory
  • Audit events recording time changes on critical systems · Policy repository / GRC workspace

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • SIEM rule or review evidence for time setting changes · SIEM / log platform

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Access control lists on internal time servers · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Identity provider / directory. Scheduled export of users, roles and MFA state from the directory; access-review completion pulled from the IdP, not a spreadsheet.

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.

Build my evidence sheet

10.6.2 Systems configured to correct and consistent time · 10.7.1 Service providers detect critical control failures (superseded)