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

12.10.6 Plan evolved from lessons learned and industry developments

The security incident response plan must be changed and developed over time based on lessons learned and to reflect developments across the industry. The guidance adds that lessons-learned exercises should involve all levels of personnel and look at what worked as well as what did not; attacks on other organisations can also inform refinement. Customized approach objective: the plan's effectiveness and accuracy are reviewed and refreshed after each time it is invoked.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.10.6. 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
2
at each review
moderate
to go live
Policy repository / GRC workspace
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

  • Plan revision history referencing incidents or industry events · Policy repository / GRC workspace

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Post-incident review reports with lessons learned · Document repository
  • Procedure requiring post-invocation review · Policy repository / GRC workspace

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Threat intelligence inputs used to refine the plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 artefacts that already live in a system (Policy repository / GRC workspace); 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.

Build my evidence sheet

12.10.5 Plan covers alerts from security monitoring systems · 12.10.7 Response procedures for PAN found in unexpected locations