EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 12: Information Security Policies

12.10.5 Plan covers alerts from security monitoring systems

The incident response plan must include monitoring of, and response to, alerts from security monitoring systems, covering at least: IDS and IPS (intrusion detection and prevention); network security controls; mechanisms detecting changes to critical files; the mechanism that detects changes and tampering on payment pages; and detection of unauthorised wireless access points. Applicability: the future-dated status applies only to the payment-page tampering bullet. Objective under the customized approach: alerts from monitoring and detection technologies are handled in a structured, repeatable way. Future-dated (payment-page bullet only): treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.10.5. 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
1
held by a system
1
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 alert tickets from IDS/IPS, file integrity monitoring and payment-page monitoring · SIEM / log platform

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Rogue wireless detection response records · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Incident response plan sections for each alert source · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Alert triage and escalation procedures · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 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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12.10.4.1 Responder training frequency set by targeted risk analysis · 12.10.6 Plan evolved from lessons learned and industry developments