12.1.1 Overall information security policy established and disseminated

The organisation must have one overarching information security policy that is formally set up, made available in published form, kept under maintenance, and distributed to every relevant member of personnel and to vendors and business partners who are relevant. The guidance defines 'relevant' as anyone whose role, internal or as an outside provider of services or functions, touches some or all of the topics the policy addresses. The guidance explains that this top-level policy governs the more specific technical and discipline policies beneath it. Objective under the customized approach: the strategic aims and principles of information security are set out, formally adopted, and understood by everyone who works for the entity.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.1.1. 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.