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

12.3.4 Annual review of hardware and software technologies

Hardware and software in use must undergo a check at least every 12 months, covering at minimum: analysis that vendors still supply timely security fixes; analysis that the technologies still support, and do not obstruct, PCI DSS compliance; documentation of industry announcements or trends about a technology, for instance a vendor's end-of-life notice; and a remediation plan for outdated technologies, including those with announced end-of-life, approved by senior management. Objective under the customized approach: hardware and software stay current and vendor supported, and plans to retire or replace unsupported components are reviewed periodically. Future-dated: treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.3.4. 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
0
held by a system
1
at each review
hard
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

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Technology review report covering support status and patch availability · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • End-of-life tracking register with vendor announcements · Vendor register / contract repository
  • Senior management approved remediation plan for outdated technologies · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Firmware and version inventory · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

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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12.3.3 Cryptographic cipher suite and protocol inventory reviewed annually · 12.4.1 Executive responsibility for a PCI DSS compliance program