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

12.4.2.1 Documentation of quarterly operational reviews

Service providers only: the reviews carried out under Requirement 12.4.2 must be recorded, and the records must include: the review results; the remediation actions documented for any task found not to have been done; and review and sign-off of the results by the people who own the PCI DSS compliance program. Applicability: applies only when the assessed entity is a service provider. Customized approach objective: management evaluates findings from operational effectiveness reviews and suitable remediation is carried out.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.4.2.1. 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.

4
artefacts
2
held by a system
2
at each review
easy
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

  • Remediation action log for missed tasks with closure dates · SIEM / log platform
  • Tracking tickets linked to remediation items · Ticketing / ITSM

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Quarterly review reports with results · Document repository
  • Sign-off by the PCI DSS compliance program owner · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

none for this control

First move

Automate the pull from your SIEM / log platform. Retention and alert rules exported from the SIEM; review evidence is the closed-alert record with reviewer and time.

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

12.4.2 Quarterly reviews that personnel follow security procedures · 12.5.1 Inventory of in-scope system components